


i know places (we won't be found)

by padfootyoudog



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: BAMF!Thor, Being Rewritten, F/M, Slow To Update, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, World Travel, Worried Avengers, a lot of swearing, also darcy is simultaneously really intelligent and really fuckin oblivious, because darcy can't really control her mouth very well, darcy getting confused by a lot of dwarven terms and customs, kind of time travel?, like wtf what is courting what is this, maybe BAMF!Darcy at some stage??, protective!Fili, some darcy & legolas may be happening, the company getting super excited about meeting fili's soulmate
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-01
Updated: 2016-03-13
Packaged: 2018-04-02 08:16:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 25,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4052998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/padfootyoudog/pseuds/padfootyoudog
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Oh fuck. Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck.</p>
<p>Those exact words were written on the right side of her ribcage.</p>
<p>Her soulmate was a fucking dwarf. </p>
<p>And he had a really nice voice.</p>
<p>“Well, I didn’t expect my first time out of Erebor in months to involve this much excitement,” commented the dark haired dwarf, and Darcy both heard and felt the huff of agreement from behind her. She felt exactly the same way.</p>
<p>Nothing happens in the lab for a few months, and then this is what she gets. A new planet, and a new species.</p>
<p>Fucking Jane.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“But I don’t understand!” cried Jane Foster, forehead deeply creased. “It’s nowhere near working. It shouldn’t have even been on.” Thor rubbed her back soothingly, and made noises of agreement, though his brow was furrowed as well. Natasha Romanoff, Clint Barton, Steve Rogers, and Bruce Banner were spread around the circular table in the middle of their communal living room, and all had equally worried looks on their faces.

“Well, the fact of the matter is that it was on, and that Darcy has now disappeared, and we have no way of finding where she is,” said Tony Stark, a spanner gripped tightly in his hand. Jane looked at him like she wanted to strangle him, tears shining in her eyes, and her fingers were white as she clutched the table.

“Don’t you think I know that, Stark?” she snarled. “Don’t you think that I already blame myself?” Tony straightened up, a dangerous look in his eye, but before his inevitably cutting retort could come out, Thor put up a hand.

“Enough. We know not where Lady Darcy is, but Heimdall may. He sees everything. Assuming that Lady Darcy has not perished, he will know where she is.”

“Once we know where she’s gone, we can go and bring her back,” said Steve, a grim set to his mouth.

“But what if we can’t?” said Jane, tears finally spilling over onto her cheeks. Thor immediately pulled her into his side.

“Do not think like that, Jane, we will certainly get her back!”

“This is Darcy, guys, she can take care of herself,” said Clint, and the whole team mumbled their agreements. “I mean, I taught her some stuff, and she has her taser, which Tony fixed up for her. She’ll be fine. I know it.”

*

“Oh fuck. Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck.”

Darcy Lewis wished that she could say she knew where she was. She really did. At this point, all she could see was a fucking huge mountain, and loads of trees, and a huge patterned circle surrounding her, kinda like the one that Thor made whenever he landed on Earth.

She really, really hoped that she was still on Earth.

The crackling of leaves and branches breaking underfoot alerted her to someone’s arrival, and she took a few steps back, and fingered her taser. “Halt!” called a deep voice, with a distinctly non-American accent. Well, at least they spoke English here. Out of the trees came a group of short men, all wearing armour, and all holding weapons. Who the fuck had swords anymore? It was like she had stumbled into a medieval fair or something, because no normal person wore armour. “Who goes there?”

“Oh, Jesus – I’m Darcy Lewis, please don’t stab me!” She put her hands into the air in the universal gesture for surrender. They didn’t lower their weapons.

Fuck, she was going to kill Jane. As soon as Thor came for her, and took her home. If these guys didn’t kill her first, that is.

Fucking scientists. Darcy wanted a pay rise.

“What business have you in these parts, girl?” asked a guy at the front of the pack. He had a bald head covered with tattoos, and an axe held loosely in each hand, and though he looked to be about her height, he wasn’t any less intimidating. Darcy wished that she could get to the taser in her pocket without looking suspicious, because the look on his face had her wanting to run in the other direction, and she was sure that it showed.

“Brother, I believe that you’re scaring her,” said a man with a forked, white beard, and kind eyes. Well, here came the good cop routine. She had watched enough police dramas to know how this worked. “Mistress Lewis, would you mind explaining why a daughter of the race of man would be wandering close to Erebor, nowhere near the common paths?”

Darcy stared at them. And then stared a little longer, because, while she recognised the name Erebor, it certainly was not anywhere on any map she’d ever seen. “Wait – isn’t Erebor that place from The Hobbit? The one with all the dwarves? If Erebor was real, then you would all have to be dwarves,” she said slowly, frowning.

Norse Gods were one thing, but fictional characters were another.

“That would be because we are dwarves, lass,” said a man with a funny hat and a cool accent.

She blinked at him. “Oh my God. You’ve all completely lost the plot.”

“What does that mean?” muttered one of the dark haired ‘dwarves’ to the redhead standing beside him, who merely shrugged. It was a shame they were so good-looking, since they were all obviously crazy.

“Mistress Lewis, we just need you to explain to us your business here, and why you are so far out from Dale, and then, assuming your explanation is satisfactory, we will allow you to leave,” explained the white haired dwarf.

What would happen to her if her explanation wasn’t satisfactory was implied, and goddamnit, they weren’t taking her anywhere without a fight. Clint had taught her enough that she thought that she could maybe take out one or two of them. The only problem was that they all had multiple weapons, and she only had a taser.

Then again, it had never failed her before – and with Tony’s improvements to it… Who knew? She might stand a chance.

“I don’t even know where I am,” moaned Darcy, “and I’m already close to being arrested. This is such bullshit. I’m going to kill Jane.”

Immediately, all of their weapons were raised again, and she took several steps back. “Okay, woah, that was not meant literally!” The guys moved forward, driving her further back, and she honestly didn’t know what to say to get them to stop, except for, maybe, the truth. “Okay, fine. I don’t actually know where I am. I somehow ended up here because my friend, Jane, built a machine that was meant to be used as a type of portal to get to Asguard, but she fucked it up and I fell into it, and now I’m here and I don’t know what’s happening, so please don’t kill me.”

The ‘dwarves’ looked like they had maybe understood one word out of all that, and she finally understood how Jane felt when Darcy couldn’t understand science.

“Come again?” said the one with the funny hat, after giving someone a sideways look, which immediately signalled to Darcy that something was wrong. Her eyes flickered to the one with the bald head, and noticed him glance at something behind her, and give a slight nod. It wouldn’t have been noticeable, if Darcy hadn’t been watching him.

Before she got the chance to look behind her, strong arms were wrapping around her, pinning her wrists down and effectively making sure that she couldn’t reach any weapons, causing her to release an indignant screech.

Fuck, she was stupid. Clint had always told her to watch her back, and the one time she didn’t, she was fucking attacked.

“Get off me, you prick! Hasn’t anybody ever told you that it’s not polite to grab ladies?” she shouted, attempting to slam a foot down on his toes, and she felt the dwarf’s arms slacken with shock. Though she didn’t know what it was that surprised him so much, she knew that it was a great opportunity. She made an attempt to run, but he caught her again almost immediately. Suddenly, the dark haired dwarf with stubble gave a bark of laughter, a knowing look in his eyes as he watched the person behind her.

“Ladies don’t normally swear as much as you do,” the dwarf holding her said breathlessly, “so I just assumed that you wouldn’t count.”

Oh fuck. Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck.

Those exact words were written on the right side of her ribcage.

Her soulmate was a fucking dwarf. 

And he had a really nice voice.

“Well, I didn’t expect my first time out of Erebor in months to involve this much excitement,” commented the dark haired dwarf, and Darcy both heard and felt the huff of agreement from behind her. She felt exactly the same way.

Nothing happens in the lab for a few months, and then this is what she gets. A new planet, and a new species.

Fucking Jane.

“What is it?” asked the bald headed one, looking impatient. The way he was fingering his axes was kind of scary, but with no way to reach her taser yet, she just had to trust that he wouldn’t do anything.

“She’s my One,” said the dwarf behind her, sounding a little in awe. Immediately, all weapons were sheathed, which went a huge way in causing her to relax. Some of the dwarves were even laughing, and calling out congratulations. After a few seconds of this, her soulmate murmured into her ear, “If I let go of you, will you run?”

Ignoring the urge to shiver at this warm breath on her neck, Darcy pondered the question for a second. She didn’t know where she was, but she did know that this was her soulmate, and that he wouldn’t hurt her. She thought that the odds would be more in her favour if she stuck with him, so she shook her head. As soon as she gave her response, he let her go, allowing her to spin around and face him.

The dwarf was blond, with a braided moustache and kind, blue eyes. He also had a very large nose, but that didn’t detract from his level of attractiveness, because, honestly, he was pretty high up on the scale, though still nowhere Thor’s level. But then again, Thor was a god, so… Her soulmate gave her a deep bow, and said, “Fíli, son of Dís, at your service.” He then gave her a smile so sincerely hopeful, that she just had to smile back.

“Darcy Lewis, at yours.”


	2. Chapter 2

There was a little part of Darcy that didn’t believe that Jane’s portal to Asguard would actually work. Jane would work on it constantly, and when they were moved to the Avengers tower, that work only increased, to the point where Jane was barely sleeping or eating, too eager to get the portal working.

It was only when Thor came back, for real this time, that she even began to slow down.

Darcy very much appreciated this, because she was pretty much only awake through the power of caffeine and pure force of will. One sleepless night, whatever. Two, okay. Three? That was pushing it. And this was speaking as somebody who had once stayed up for two days straight going to all of the different parties happening on the university campus.

She could survive for a while, but now that she had gotten older, she needed her goddamn beauty sleep.

But then again, she supposed that if anyone was separated from their soulmate for that amount of time, they’d get a little crazy.

But anyway. Turns out that Jane’s portal did work. And, to be honest, Darcy still wasn’t sure whether or not to be happy about it.

On the one hand, she had found her soulmate. She didn’t exactly know him very well yet, but she was sure that once they got to wherever Fíli lived, they could talk a bit more. Soulmates were meant to complement each other perfectly, so she wasn’t too concerned on that front. What she was concerned about, was meeting Fíli’s family. But there wasn’t much she could do about that, apart from maybe learning their favourite desserts and baking them something so good that they couldn’t kick her out, even if they wanted to.

On the other hand, she had lost all of her family, friends, and wifi. Plus, her home was on Earth. Normal Earth, not fucking Middle Earth. She still wasn’t sure if the dwarves were taking the piss out of her or not when they said that.

Honestly, Darcy just didn’t know what she would do if Thor didn’t come – or even if he did.

She just didn’t know if she could choose between her life and her soulmate.

It had taken about an hour and a half to reach the mountain, and Darcy was very thankful that she was wearing her trusty converse, instead of the heeled boots she had been considering for the day, because there had been a large amount of uphill walking, which wasn’t particularly surprising, considering that they lived in a _mountain_.

Of course, the whole trip was made much more entertaining by the fact that Fíli seemed very unwilling to let go of her. As they set off, he had taken her hand, and hadn’t dropped it since. Darcy considered this to be a bit of a win, because his hand was large, and calloused, and she could easily feel the strength in them. It made her feel so safe, which had become a bit of a novelty since meeting Thor. She also thought that it was very cute that his palms got a little sweaty, like, not enough to be gross, but enough to realise that Fíli was more nervous about the whole situation than he was letting on.

It was sweet that he was trying to seem calm and collected in front of her though, because God knew she was freaking out.

Like, who the fuck meets their soulmate in  _Middle Earth_? It was a supposedly fictional place. She wasn't even meant to be here, and suddenly she met her  _soulmate_? It was almost like it had been staged, because this kind of shit did not happen to normal people. She didn't even know what happened in the books! She had seen about half of a movie, and remembered the names Frodo, Legolas, and Gimli, but apart from that, nothing.

Oh, and Aragorn.

But that was mainly because he was a dish, and her friends would always whistle when he came on screen.

By the end of the hike, Darcy was panting, and praying to God that she didn’t have sweat patches showing up on her t-shirt, because nothing could be more unattractive. While she had been training recently with Clint, but she hadn't even been close to reaching his level of fitness. Not that that was surprising, because Clint was fucking  _built_ , and Darcy only exercised when it suited her. Natasha had slowly been aiming to change that, armed with many routines for Darcy to try out.

Let's just say that Darcy avoided the Black Widow for the better part of two weeks, before she was cornered in the kitchen, and forcibly taken down to the gym. Darcy had stumbled into the lab that afternoon aching and complaining extremely loudly, because if she was in pain, everybody had to know about it. Jane had sighed, giving up on any work for the day, before she asked Thor to bring up the good wine from Tony's cellar. Darcy had almost proposed to her then and there.

Though the weather wasn’t anywhere near warm, kind of chilly, actually, she had taken off her very large, very warm jumper, just to cool herself down a little.

Climbing mountains was hard, alright?

The most embarrassing part was that all of the dwarves seemed fine, barely even breaking a sweat. Some of them were even _singing_ , while she could barely string a sentence together without gasping for breath. When she gave them all various looks of incredulousness, the dark haired one, who had introduced himself as Kíli, winked back at her, grin cheeky.

Little bastard.

"You alright, lass?" said Fíli, voice low, so as not to be overheard by the others.

Darcy's smile was a little strained when she said, "Yeah, I'm good."

Okay, she was lying through her teeth. Her legs were fucking  _on_ _fire_ , and she thought that if she got any more stitches in her side, she'd probably collapse.

Fuck, man, she was a science lackey. She tinkered with Jane's machines, and got coffee, and sometimes raided Tony's fridge (because he always had the best ice cream ever - it paid to be friends with someone who was loaded). She wasn't made for this shit.

Fíli's look was disbelieving, but he let her be, simply squeezing her hand comfortingly. "We're almost there, Darcy, don't worry." Most people would've sounded at least a little bit condescending, but his voice was soothing.

Man, she had hit the jackpot with this guy.

When they finally reached the mountain, she was given multiple curious stares from the many dwarves milling around - she assumed that this was, like, the lobby, or something. What were they called in castles? Entrance halls? After yet another dwarf turned bright red after looking at her, she finally turned to Fíli, and said, "Why're they all staring at me? Like, I know that I'm a little taller than you guys, but I don't think that it should matter this much."

Fíli smirked at her, and said, "I believe that that would be your clothing, my Lady." Darcy's look of offense made him chuckle, but she wasn't amused. She was wearing fucking jeans, a T-shirt, her jumper tied around her waist, and a pair of converse. She didn't think that she was dressed badly. "Most women wear fairly conservative dresses. Not much is revealed in the leg area. You're wearing clothes that are," he cleared his throat, "quite figure-hugging, which isn't seen as particularly appropriate for a lady."

What the fuck.

What in the actual fuck.

"I'm sorry?" said Darcy. Fíli gave a helpless shrug.

"Perhaps, once we're situated, we can have you measured for new clothing - that might help to reduce the stares." Darcy wanted to argue, because she could wear whatever she goddamn wanted, but when a dwarf gasped and then covered the eyes of his child, she knew that she would have to at least try to fit in.

Unless Thor and the others found her first, that is.

The whole group stopped as soon as they reached a specific corridor, and gathered around Fíli. They seemed to be waiting for instructions, but Darcy was, like, twenty percent sure that the bald dwarf was the leader of the little group. The hallway was empty, excepting two pairs of what looked like guards, who stood at each end.

"My friends, would you mind if we keep this blessing between us, for a little bit? At least, until I tell Amad." A few of the dwarves chuckled, but they all agreed, quite cheerfully.

"That's all well and good, Fíli, but what do we tell Thorin?" said the white haired dwarf, an amused glint in his eye.

Who was Thorin? An ex-boyfriend? Brother? Pet?

Fíli winced. "Er, I'm not sure that he needs to know anything, for the moment," he said, and the dwarf with the funny hat let out a bark of laughter.

Okay, so she was leaning more towards ex-boyfriend.

"Of course, Fíli, we'll keep this to ourselves," he said jovially, and Fíli scowled at him, before gently tugging on Darcy's arm, getting her to move along with him.

"Do you realise, lad, that Dís'll want to celebrate?" called the bald-headed dwarf, and instantly the others all went into hysterics.

"Mahal save me," murmured Fíli, and continued on.

It was difficult, trying to get an idea of status in a mountain. Seriously. The only clue she had was that the gems and metals decorating the walls suddenly got prettier, and more expensive-looking, the further up the mountain they were. This probably meant that her soulmate was pretty high up in the food chain.

No judgement, okay? She didn’t know shit about jewels. Her areas were politics and tasers. Fíli could be a fucking  _king_ , for all she knew.

"Darcy?" said Fíli, shaking her out of her thoughts.

“Yeah?” replied Darcy, as they came to a stop in front of an incredibly ornate door. Maybe leading to a sitting room, or something like that? A kitchen was the best outcome, in her opinion, because God, she was starving. What kind of food would they have here? She supposed that it might be too much to ask for a cup of coffee and a sugary donut.

“I need to go and tell my mother about this,” said Fíli, an apologetic looks on his face. Darcy tried to hide her panic at being left alone in a new, strange place.

“Yep, I get it, you don’t want to just spring me on her,” said Darcy, pasting a reassuring smile on. “That’d just be rude. Yeah, no, go ahead, I’ll just chill out here. Wherever here is.”

Fíli’s frown said that he didn’t believe that she was truly okay with him leaving, but when he began to study her expression more closely, she gave him a blinding smile. “Seriously, dude, just get me settled in here, and I’ll be cool for a while.”

His frown turned confused as he said with wonder, “It’s like you speak an entirely different language. It is amazing, that your world’s words are so different to ours.”

Darcy blinked. This would be like speaking with Thor when he first came to Earth, for a while, until they managed to pick up each other’s lingo. “I’m sorry. Um, it’s completely fine for you to go and speak to your mother, I’ll just wait here until your finished.”

Fíli’s frown cleared up, and he gave her a small smile. “Thank you, Darcy. I very much appreciate it.” Finally, he pushed open the door, and allowed her to enter. “Please, make yourself comfortable. There are books written in Westron that you can read, and I’ll have somebody send food up. Hopefully I will return quickly.” Darcy nodded and gave him a thumbs up, though she had no clue what Westron was. Probably some weird dwarf language.

“Great,” she said. “I’ll just be in here, then. Have fun with your mother!” Before she could retreat into the room and freak out in private, Fíli caught her hand in his, and placed a chaste kiss on her knuckles. Darcy could feel her cheeks flaming, and she let out a breathless giggle. Well, there went her ovaries. He let go of her hand, and gave her a cheeky wink, before leaving her behind with the promise that he would be back soon. On his face was a very smug smirk, and if Darcy was feeling less flustered, she would’ve been very annoyed at how he managed to get the drop on her.

She kind of hoped that he wasn’t that charming all the time, otherwise she had no chance of winning any of their arguments.

_Fuck, Darcy, buck the hell up. You cannot let him get the drop on you. You have tasered a god. You've got this._

After she had recovered her wits, and given herself multiple pep-talks, she managed to close the heavy door to the room, and properly check out the room that she was in.

The only source of light were a bunch of flickering candles, and the fire that was roaring happily in the fireplace, casting vaguely creepy shadows across the room, but it was enough to see the golden, geometric patterns on the walls, and the jewels lining the ceiling. The fire place was sandwiched between two bookshelves at one end of the room, and above the mantle was an elaborate sword.

  
On the opposite side of the room, taking pride of place, was a huge bed.

Fuck.

This was his bedroom. She was in Fíli’s bedroom. Jesus Christ, they had only just met, and as good looking as her soulmate was, she wasn’t just going to sleep with him immediately.

But this was a good opportunity to poke around, and get a good idea of his character.

Okay, it was really rude to rifle through people’s things, but she was curious, and she was in another world, and she was not above doing a little spying. What, with the amount of weapons he had, he could be a serial killer, and she wouldn’t know any better.

She eyed the table beside the bed, assuming that most of the important stuff would be in the drawer, and began to move towards it.

A shriek tore from her throat when she was stopped by a strong arm wrapping around her chest from behind, and the cold feel of a knife against her throat.

Fucking hell. She was so done with this shit.

You’d think that training with one of the best spies in the business would’ve helped her out with this kind of stuff, but even Natasha admitted that it was very difficult to get away from someone that was holding a sharp object to your jugular, because while Darcy had her taser, she couldn’t risk using it in case the lady jolted, and accidentally killed her.

Darcy really wished that this kind of shit didn’t happen to her so often, because she was having flashbacks to when Clint thought that she was an intruder in the tower.

“Who are you, and what are you doing inside my son’s rooms?” demanded a smooth, throaty voice. Darcy tried very hard not to breathe too deeply.

And then what the lady said got through to her.

“Wait, you’re Fíli’s mom?” said Darcy, sounding extremely panicked even to her own ears. The lady only pressed the knife down further, and Darcy knew that she was going to have an impressive scratch there if she lived, because the metal was digging in pretty painfully.

“Answer the question, intruder,” hissed Fíli’s mom. Yeah, what the fuck?

Only Darcy could have luck this bad, because this was not going to make the best first impression. She was meant to bake a cake for their first meeting! This was ridiculous. “Uh, Fíli just told me to wait here while he went looking for you! I promise, I have his permission to be in here, um, ma’am. Please don’t kill me.”

“Why – ” the lady began to say, suspicion thick in her voice, but a sharp knock on the door interrupted her. With a sigh, as if this was all a total waste of time, she called out, “Enter.”

The door swung open to reveal Fíli’s brother, Kíli, holding a plate of food and a mug.

Darcy dearly hoped that the mug was filled with alcohol, because God knows she needed it after the day that she’d had. She wondered if she looked as terrified as she felt.

“Darcy, Bombur’s made you some – Amad! What are you doing?!”

Was ‘Amad’ her name, or, like, a weird term of endearment? Fucking cultural differences.

“You know this girl?” said ‘Amad’ suspiciously, moving the knife away slightly. Darcy immediately sucked in a huge gulp of air, extremely grateful that she could breathe normally again without the risk of having her throat cut.

“Yes, yes, she’s Fíli’s karfu-amrâb*! Amad, let her go!” Darcy heard a sharp gasp from behind her, and the knife was taken away completely. Firm hands then spun her around, so that she could face her attacker. “Oh, Fíli’s going to be so angry,” Kíli moaned, placing the food and drink onto a table. “I was meant to look after you! He’ll kill me. Amad, I hope you know that I’m blaming you for all of this.”  
‘Amad’ ignored Kíli’s whining, blue eyes staring intensely into Darcy’s own, and said, “You’re Fíli’s One?”

Darcy was a little too distracted by the lady’s braided beard to answer the question. She was about thirty percent sure that normally, women didn’t have beards. Maybe that was different in Middle Earth.

Wait, if Fíli was used to women having beards, would he think that she was weird-looking?

Fuck, she needed a book on this shit.

It was funny, because Darcy would’ve thought that a beard would take away from someone’s level of good-looking-ness, but this woman made it work. She had thick, dark hair spilling over her shoulders, with several braids and beads spaced throughout. Intelligent eyes peered out from under thick, pierced brows, and she had a straight nose, with a single gold hoop pierced through her septum.

To be honest, Darcy would totally do her, if the lady weren’t her soulmate’s mother.

She then noticed Fíli’s mom’s expectant gaze, and flushed. “Oh, I’m sorry, I spaced out. Yeah, I’m about ninety-eight percent sure that I’m Fíli’s… what word did you use? One? Anyway, it’s nice to meet you, I’m Darcy Lewis.”

Kíli then said, “It’s alright, Amad, she is speaking Westron, though it is a very butchered form of it.” This clued Darcy in on the look of bewilderment on the lady’s face.

“I am Dís, daughter of Thrain, son of Thror, at your service.” Dís inclined her head, and gave Darcy a smile that immediately lowered her intimidation level.

“Oh, um, thank you?” said Darcy in reply, and Kíli rolled his eyes so hard that she was surprised they didn’t fall out of his head.

“I give you my sincere apologies for attacking you,” said Dís, blue eyes wide and earnest, “and I hope that you will find it in you to forgive a mother’s concern for her son’s wellbeing.”

Kíli snorted loudly. Dís glared at him. Darcy cleared her throat nervously. “Yeah, no worries, it happens. Quite a lot actually, now that I think about it, but whatever.”

“Fíli’s looking for you by the way, Amad,” said Kíli, sinking into the plush armchair in front of the fire. “He wanted to tell you about Darcy before you met her, but I think that he might have missed his chance.”

Dís gave a delicate snort, and said, “Thank you, Kíli. You are ever helpful. Now, I will leave you both to have your tea, as I have made plans to eat with Thorin, but I would very much like to get to know you. Speaking of, is Thorin aware of this development?”

Kíli gave her a suspicious look, but still shook his head.

Dís smirked, showing her resemblance to both of her sons. “Excellent. Farewell then, Lady Darcy. Perhaps we can have tea together tomorrow, so that I can learn more about my son’s One.” Coming from anybody else, this would’ve been a suggestion, but coming from Dís, it was an obvious command. Darcy wasn't sure if she should be scared of her, or very, very turned on.

“Yeah, I’d love to,” said Darcy, though she was pretty sure that she would rather get tackled by the Hulk. She had never enjoyed the whole ‘meet the parents’ thing, and this mother being made her no exception. “And please, call me Darcy.”

“Then to you, I am Dís.” Dís inclined her head once again, and kissed Kíli on the head as she passed him, before she swept out of the room, silk dress swirling, leaving behind the sweet scent of her perfume.

Darcy turned to Kíli. “Fuck, your mother is scary.”

Kíli laughed, but didn't deny it, and then frowned when he saw her neck properly. “Are you bleeding?” He got up from his chair, and inspected the scratch. Darcy wasn’t too concerned, because she didn’t feel any blood dripping down or anything. “We should bandage that. Wouldn’t want it to get infected.”

She waved a nonchalant hand. “Flesh-wound, dude, it’s fine.”

Kíli’s brow wrinkled with confusion, and his eyes flickered away from the scratch. “What does ‘dude’ mean?” The word sounded so awkward coming from his mouth that she had to laugh, though it made him pout.

“It’s like a word for, erm, friend? Or, really, any person. It’s a bit like a nickname. It’s not anything offensive, don’t worry,” she reassured.

“How odd,” he said, and was about to continue, but then somebody knocked on the door.

“It’s Fíli, may I come in?” Fíli called, and Darcy confirmed that yes, he could enter.

Manners were a thing here, then. If somebody knocked on her door at the Avengers Tower, Darcy would’ve given them a weird look, and asked them if she looked like the Queen, because who knocked these days. Let's be honest.

Okay, fine, Steve knocked, but literally nobody else did.

“Darcy,” said Fíli with a smile, as he came and stood beside his brother, in front of her. His eyes scanned over her, and seeing that she seemed to be comfortable and content, he relaxed. “Were you alright while I was gone? Kíli wasn’t being too irritating, was he?”

Darcy grinned back. “Nah, we were fine. I was just teaching Kíli how to speak my language, actually.”

Fíli laughed, and glanced at his brother. “And how is that going?”

“Quite well, I believe,” interjected Kíli. “I think that I could almost definitely parade as a local, dude.”

Darcy couldn’t help the laughter that burst out at the word, just because Kíli sounded so weird saying it. She could feel Fíli’s fond gaze on her, and she gave him a wink.

“Did you have any luck finding mother?” said Kíli, a smirk on his face, and Fíli sighed, rubbing his forehead.

“Unfortunately, no. I think that I’ll try to catch her after supper, while she’s in her study..." he trailed off, and then frowned as he peered closer at her. "What is that?” Fíli’s eyes were bright with a sudden anger, and focused on her throat. A quiet fury swept over his face, and he said, “That was not there when I left. What happened?” Warm fingers probed at the scratch, and Darcy batted them away, not wanting any unnecessary pain. The tips of his finger’s came away wet with blood, and she winced. Okay, so maybe it was bleeding a little more than she thought.

“She met Amad,” said Kíli, in a tone that suggested that it was inevitable. Darcy wondered just how frightening Dís could get, if a meeting with her was met with such resignation.

“Amad did this?” said Fíli, his anger replaced by shock. “How? Why?”

“It was an accident, she just thought that I was an intruder, so she threatened me with a knife. It happens, Fíli, please calm down,” said Darcy soothingly, and she put a hand on his arm, which was tense under her grip. And very muscly.

“She and I will be having words,” murmured Fíli, taking a handkerchief from his tunic, and dabbing at the scratch, ignoring her melodramatic yelps of pain. "Mahal, you're worse than Kíli when he stubs his toe." Kíli let out an indignant yelp, and shoved his brother in the side. Fíli stopped the fight before it began by putting a warning hand on his brother's chest, subtly flicking his eyes to Darcy.

She read the glance as, ' _Careful, the human is breakable._ ' She rolled her eyes, though she thought that his protectiveness was very sweet.

“Alright, thanks, Sir Lancelot.”

The dwarves gave her matching ‘are you crazy’ stares.

“You do realise that his name is Fíli, don't you?”

Oh, boy.

She missed Jane.

*

Thor had left to go speak to Heimdall two hours ago, and Jane couldn’t keep still. The other Avengers were all working on a plan, and she was making a small castle out of poptarts, because there wasn’t a huge amount that she could do until Thor came back. This was how Tony found her.

“You alright, Foster?” he said when he walked into the lab, a concerned furrow in his brow, and Jane shook her head miserably.

“I just don’t understand how the machine could have been working,” she said, and flicked the teetering stack of poptarts, causing it to go crashing down. She began to rebuild. “I wasn’t even close to finishing it. It shouldn’t have even been turned on, and it wouldn’t have had the power to transport a carrot, let alone a full-grown woman, so I don’t get what happened. Plus, somebody would’ve had to have been operating it while Darcy was in there, and I was the only one in the lab.”

Tony frowned, and said, “Are you saying that somebody’s tampered with the machine?”

“Well, that’s the thing. Only you, Bruce, Darcy, and I have access to this lab, so literally nobody could have tampered with, especially with JARVIS on the lookout.” Jane shrugged.

“I’ll have JARVIS look at the security feeds, and see what’s happening. We’ll sort this out, Foster, don’t worry.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1 – literally translates to ‘piece of soul’.
> 
> So, we're kind of getting into things on the Avengers' end at the moment, and Darcy is beginning to meet the family, which she is obviously enjoying. She'll definitely be getting more badass within the next few chapters, don't worry, and she'll stop being attacked from behind, hopefully :D
> 
> Apologies for any typos, if you see anything that's really irritating, please, point it out and I'll fix it, because it is very late atm and I'm very tired, and I probably didn't actually read over this properly.
> 
> If you've got any questions about anything feel free to ask, and thank you guys for all of the kudos, comments, and bookmarks, it means a lot to know that you're all enjoying this story :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everybody! Just wanted to tell you that I made a few tweaks to the second chapter, and added a huge chunk of stuff at the beginning, so you may want to check that out again :) Hope you enjoy this chapter, it's got a little more quality time with Fíli.

Once Darcy’s neck was disinfected (with something that smelled suspiciously of vodka, and was just as painful [alright, so she may have played up the pain a little to get Fíli to hold her hand again]), she was finally allowed to sit down and eat something, which her growling stomach was extremely happy about. Whoever this ‘Bombur’ was, he made a mean meat pie.

After she had finished (only regretting the lack of tomato sauce), resting back into her seat with a satisfied sigh, Fíli had grinned at her, and said, “The Company’s excited to meet you.” Darcy, who had been almost ready to fall asleep now that she was full and comfortable, snapped to attention, eyes wide. If ‘The Company’ were anything like Dís, she didn’t really want to meet them. Not if it meant more injuries.

Well, at least if they did try and hurt her, she would have her taser ready. She really should’ve known not to trust a new area, especially after all the shit she’d been through with Jane, so she blamed herself for being so easily caught by both Dís and Fíli.

She would not be taken by surprise again.

“Oh?” said Darcy, trying and failing to sound casual. “And, um, who’re ‘The Company’?”

“Oh, it’s only Balin, Dwalin, Oín, Glóin, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Dori, Nori, Ori, and, of course, Bilbo,” supplied Kíli cheerfully, and Fíli shot him a glare. Bilbo? Where did she know that name from?

“A small group of dwarves who accompanied us on our quest to retake Erebor,” Fíli corrected quickly, and Darcy bit her lip uncertainly. “You saw quite a few of them earlier today, when you, um, first arrived.” Her mind jumped to the kind, grandfatherly dwarf, and the one with the funny hat, and she thought that maybe she could meet them again. She needed to buck the fuck up. She could meet Fíli’s friends. It would be no different to meeting the Avengers when she and Jane first moved into the tower. Maybe even a little less scary, because the Avengers were, like, famous, and had saved the whole world multiple times.

It didn’t help that Darcy was a huge fan of the Black Widow.

“Yeah, okay,” she said, and Fíli grinned at her, a hint of relief in his eyes. “I’d love to meet your friends, Fíli. Maybe we could have, like, dinner or something with them at some stage?”

Wow. She was, like, a proper adult, organising dinner parties and shit. Jane would be proud.

“Perhaps later this week,” suggested Fíli. “After you have settled in, of course.”

Did that mean she was staying here? She didn’t want to assume, especially since she didn’t know dwarvish customs, nor anything about Middle Earth. She didn’t even know how to dress, for God’s sake. She didn’t really know where she would go if she didn’t stay in Erebor, but she was sure that she could figure something out if push came to shove.

“Wait, so I’m staying here, then?”

Fíli and Kíli exchanged a look, before turning to her, faces serious. “Do you not wish to stay here?” asked Fíli carefully, looking out for her reaction with wary eyes.

“Of course I do,” she rushed to reassure. “I just didn’t want to assume.” Both boys relaxed back into their seats.

“Alright, that’s good, then,” said Kíli. “We can get you some, erm, proper clothes sorted, as well as a few good weapons, and a nice bed chamber. After all, it wouldn’t be appropriate for you to share with Fíli. Not before you’re married, at least. You’ll have to control your urges.” Fíli thumped his brother on the arm, hard, and Kíli let out a grunt of pain, though his eyes still glimmered cheekily.

Darcy’s eyes widened at the thought of marriage, and she scowled at the little shit that was Fíli’s brother.

“Kíli,” said Fíli, with a warning look. “Would you be able to organise an appointment the tailor for Darcy? Make it for today, please, it will be much better for you to get new clothing sooner rather than later. Especially if mother’s planning what I think she’s planning.”

“Wait, I don’t have any money to pay for new clothes,” protested Darcy. While she was curious about what Dís was planning, she needed to get the clothes issue out of the way first. She wasn’t going to mooch off of her soulmate. Her parents had raised her better than that.

Both dwarves stopped, and stared at her. “You won’t be paying for it,” said Kíli, looking shocked that she had even suggested it. “Fíli’ll take care of it.” At Darcy’s look, he merely shrugged. “Darcy, it’s not as if we live in poverty. We are able to afford it. Do not worry yourself.”

“Alright, for now, but I’m going to pay you back somehow.” Darcy had worked hard for all of the shit in her life, and she wasn’t going to stop just because she was in another world.

Fíli looked physically pained as he said, “That is honestly unnecessary. I need no payment. You’re my karfu-amrâb, I’m meant to take care of you.”

As one might imagine, this didn’t sit too well with the twenty-first century feminist that was Darcy. She had always taken care of herself. She didn’t need a man to pay for her shit, and do everything for her.

She let the comment slide for the moment, as she could see Fíli gearing up to fight her on it, but decided to bring up dwarven customs at a later date.

Kíli muttered to her, “He’ll probably be willing to take payment in the form of kisses.” Fíli flushed, and Darcy smirked, because, hell yeah, that was something she could do.

“Kíli, do you not have elsewhere to be?” said Fíli pointedly, and his brother laughed, before waving his goodbyes, and leaving them alone.

In Fíli’s bedroom.

After a moment of silence, Fíli cleared his throat, and said, “I asked the maids to clean out the room beside mine for you, if that’s agreeable.”

Darcy nodded, suddenly feeling a bit awkward now that she was alone with her soulmate. “Sounds good. Thank you, for that.”

Fíli gave her a small smile, eyes crinkling pleasantly at the corners. “My pleasure, amrâlimê.” 

“What does that mean? Is that, like, dwarvish for something? It’s not bad, is it?”

He laughed. “It means ‘my love’ in Khuzdul, which is the dwarvish dialect.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “I’m not sure if I believe you. For all I know, you could be calling me, like, a pig or something. God knows Clint’s done that enough times.”

“Who is Clint?” wondered Fíli, wanting to learn more about his One, and Darcy’s expression turned fond.

“A friend from my world. He’s an archer. Helps to protect everyone. Once, he gave me this nickname, in Swedish, which is a language from my world. He told me that it meant ‘beautiful’, and he used it, like, all the time. Then, he used it in front of Natasha, which was a huge mistake, let me tell you.”

“What happened?”

“Well, she forced him to apologise to me, and then completely smashed him in training the next day. She said that it was rude to act like a dipshit towards a lady who had only helped them all out. It was a bit of an ego boost, ‘cause I was, like, eighty percent sure that Nat didn’t even know my name at that stage.”

“Your friends sound nice,” said Fíli sincerely, and Darcy grinned.

“Oh, they’re the best. You know, Clint was actually teaching me how to use a bow and arrow, before this all happened.”

God, she was already talking about her friends in past tense. 

Fíli’s face brightened, and he said, “Kíli will be very excited to hear that. Not many dwarves use the bow and arrow. Perhaps a competition may be in order. Between you and me, he needs to be taken down a notch or two.”

Darcy laughed. “I’m not sure that I would be the one to do that,” she said, “I’m not that great at archery yet.” He gave her a look of mock betrayal.

“Say it is not so, my Lady,” he said earnestly, clasping one of her hands in his. “I am certain that you are merely being modest, and that when the time comes, you will give my brother a sound thrashing with ease and grace.”

She snorted with laughter, which then set Fíli off too, his chuckles deep, and very pleasing to hear. She gave one of his moustache braids a flick, and said, “Don’t tease me, you dork.”

He immediately stopped laughing, and gave her an extremely serious look, a hint of mischief in his eyes. That really should’ve been her first clue. “Darcy, do you realise that touching a dwarf’s facial hair is as effective as a proposal of marriage?” He sounded truly concerned.

Darcy froze. Shit. Fuck. Shit. Shit. They were soulmates, but they were nowhere near the marriage stage. They were at, like, the coffee date stage. She wasn’t even ready to get a pet together, for fuc – 

His serious expression immediately evaporated after a single glance at her face, and he couldn’t help but start laughing again. She gave him a severely unimpressed look, hoping that her eyes were conveying her righteous indignation. This only made him laugh harder, until he was gasping for breath, and tears were forming in his eyes.

“Alright, buster, don’t hurt yourself.”

She had been wrong about the situation between the two brothers. Kíli wasn’t that little shit in the relationship. Fíli was.

He looked so cute when he was laughing, though.

*

The tailor came bustling into Fíli’s bedchambers about half an hour later, excited enough to meet Fíli’s One that he wasn’t able to wait longer. A short line of dwarves followed behind him, each with arms overflowing with various fabrics.

Darcy immediately leapt up to meet them, Fíli alongside.

What the fuck had she gotten herself into? Weren’t there places she could just go shopping? Honestly, it was like the dwarves were getting ready to smother her in fabric.

“Garli, son of Banli, at your service, my Lady.” The dwarf gave a deep bow, long, brown beard touching the floor. The silver beads plaited into the strands all knocked together at the sudden movement, and created a lovely chiming sound. He had dark, sincere looking eyes, and Darcy knew immediately that she would like him.

“Darcy Lewis, at yours,” she replied, though her introduction seemed lacking in comparison to his. Should she have told him about her father as well?

‘Darcy Lewis, daughter of Francis Lewis.’ It didn’t really have the same ring to it.

“It is truly an honour, my Lady, to assist in the creation of your wardrobe,” said Garli, before directing the dwarves behind him to set up the fabrics in the room.

By the time they were all finished, almost every spare space was covered, excepting the chair that Fíli had been sitting in.

“Now, I believe that you are in need of several everyday dresses, a couple of evening gowns, and a nightgown, is that correct?” said Garli. Darcy’s look of alarm then prompted him to turn to Fíli, who nodded, a faint smirk on his face.

Well, she was glad to see that her discomfort was amusing him.

“Spare no expense, Master Garli,” said Fíli. “She is to have the best.” He then murmured something into Garli’s ear, which made the small tailor light up with excitement. He could probably put a Christmas tree to shame, in that moment. Darcy desperately wanted to know what had just been said.

“That’s really not necessary, Fíli – ” she tried to protest, but Fíli merely shushed her, and told her to ‘stay still for Master Garli’.

Prick.

The next couple of hours were spent choosing fabrics, and getting poked by loads of pins, as various dwarves offered their unwanted opinions.

Fíli’s amusement was clear throughout the proceedings, as he lounged in his armchair, and seemed to relish in the fact that it wasn’t him getting stabbed with pins. Darcy mouthed the word ‘traitor’ in his direction, but he merely chuckled, and gave her a wink. Garli kept up a steady stream of chatter, with his assistants often joining in, and soon, Darcy knew more gossip about Erebor and its inhabitants than she did about the Avengers.

All in a days work.

Finally, a little while later, Garli announced that he was finished, for the moment. “It may be necessary to do some more fittings for one or two of the dresses, but I have most of what I need.”

Thank fuck. If that fitting had taken any longer, she would’ve gone all Hulk on all of their asses. At that moment, all Darcy wanted to do was collapse, preferably into a comfortable bed. She had had a long day, and she was fucking sick of all this.

“You have our thanks, Master Garli,” said Fíli. Garli practically glowed.

Someone had a serious case of hero worship going on there.

“At least one of the everyday dresses will be completed by tomorrow,” said the dressmaker, as his assistants cleaned everything up. “Thank you for your patience, Lady Lewis.”

“No worries, Master Garli, thanks for doing this for me.”

She sounded so American, compared to the dwarves and their fantastic accents.

The little tailor said his last farewells, before bustling out of the room, looking to be a dwarf on a mission.

As soon as he left, Darcy collapsed into the chair opposite Fíli’s. “Urgh, that was exhausting.”

Fíli snorted. “That was nothing compared to my first fitting in Erebor. I needed a full wardrobe, something ‘befitting of my status’, and that took around half a day, no breaks. That wouldn’t have been so bad, except poor Garli was so nervous that he kept on stabbing me with the bloody pins, until I began to fear that I would bleed out before the end. I was also forced to endure Kíli’s many, many complaints about staying still for so long. Ah, the joys of being the eldest.”

“I wouldn’t know, I’m an only child,” she said, smirking a little at the mental image of Kíli and Fíli struggling during a dress fitting.

“Well, then, allow me to enlighten you,” said Fíli. “Younger siblings are often blood-thirsty little gremlins, who only want you for your clothes, your toys, and your willingness to teach them how to fight. If they ever get hurt in some way, they will blame you. If they are hungry, they will blame you. If they are – ”

“I think I understand,” interrupted Darcy with a snicker. “Everything is always your fault, even if it isn’t. Man, I’m glad that my parents stopped with me.”

“Ah, do not misunderstand me, though. Kíli is one of the best things that has ever happened to me,” Fíli said easily, though he didn’t continue after that. “Here, let me show you your new bedchamber, and then I can introduce you to your personal maid.” He heaved himself up from the chair, and then held out a hand for her.

Their fingers slotted together easily, and she was happy when he didn’t let go of her hand after helping her up.

Why was it that she had to arrive in another world to find somebody as cute as this?

Suddenly, his words actually got through to her. “Wait, what?” she yelped. “‘Personal maid’? I don’t need a ‘personal maid’!”

What would she even do with a personal maid? She barely knew what to do with herself!

“Of course you do,” Fíli dismissed. “She can help you with all of your, er, womanly… stuff. And she’s a trained fighter, so she can protect you from any threats.”

Darcy frowned at him, and wondered what kind of threats he was expecting. “I can take care of myself, Fíli,” she said through gritted teeth, hand going to her trusty taser. Her taser had put Thor on the ground. She thought that she would be alright.

Fíli noticed her annoyance, perceptive dwarf that he was, and immediately backtracked. “It’s not that I believe that you are somehow unable to defend yourself, but it would definitely ease my mind to have Fraya there, just in case. My status makes you a target.”

Yeah, well, she had lived with the Avengers for a year. They had a lot of enemies.

After a lot of grumbling, she finally gave in, mostly because Fíli’s arguments were strangely effective.

It was certainly not because of his puppy eyes.

*

Darcy’s bedchambers were next door to Fíli’s, and had almost the same design, with golden patterns decorating the walls, and a huge, four-poster bed in the centre. There was a large set of doors at the opposite end of the room, which Darcy thought would lead to a bathroom or something?

Speaking of, what was the plumbing like in Middle Earth? Because, fuck, she was not using a squatty-potty. She had limits, alright? She had bad experiences with squat toilets, and she had vowed to never use one again.

When they walked in, there was a dark haired dwarf tending to the fireplace. Darcy figured that it was a woman, ‘cause, you know, boobs, but she couldn’t be sure. Everybody having beards made it a whole lot more difficult to differentiate them.

“Ah, Miss Fraya,” said Fíli amiably when he caught sight of the dwarf, and she immediately stood and spun to face them, dropping into a low curtsy when she realised who they were.

Well, that was one question answered. Definitely a girl.

“Good afternoon, my Lord, my Lady,” the dwarf murmured, eyes lowered to show respect. Darcy gave an awkward wave.

“Hey, I’m Darcy,” she said. “How’s it going?”

Fraya's eyes were filled with bewilderment as she stared at Darcy. Fíli gave the maid an apologetic smile. “She’s asking how you are,” he said, and Darcy scowled as she realised that she had slipped up again with the language. She was happy that Fíli was beginning to pick up on some of her more common slang words.

Comprehension clearly dawned, and Fraya said, “I am well, my lady, and you?”

Darcy smiled. “I’d be a lot better if you just called me Darcy. I’m no lady.”

Fíli snorted. “I have a soulmark which would say otherwise,” he muttered, and Darcy lightly elbowed him in the side. He didn’t appear to feel it. “Anyway, Darcy, this is Miss Fraya, your new handmaiden. If ever you are in need of anything, simply ask her, and she will see that it is done.”

Darcy still felt uncomfortable with having her own maid, but still smiled at Fraya. She was a pretty dwarf, with long brown locks, and matching eyes. Her beard was short and well-groomed, and braided through with small gems, shining in the light of the fire.

“Cool. Sounds good.” Darcy nodded along awkwardly, and Fíli grinned at her discomfort.

“I’ll leave you two alone to get better acquainted, then, because I’m assuming you’d like to freshen up after the day that you’ve had,” he said. “Will it be alright for us to dine together tonight? You probably won’t want to eat supper in the proper Dining Hall, as we will almost certainly be bombarded with well-wishers.”

“Yeah, no, that sounds great. I’d rather meet everyone when I’m looking a little more put together.”

Aww, that was considerate.

Fíli nodded, and then brought the hand that he was still holding up to his lips, so that he could place a soft kiss upon her knuckles. Darcy felt shivers going up her spine at the feeling, and held back a silly grin. “I’ll send somebody to pick you up in a few hours, amrâlimê.”

“Cool. See you, Fíli,” she said, and with that, he left, door closing softly behind him.

“That was sweet, if you don’t mind me saying, my lady,” said Fraya, who Darcy had actually forgotten about. She jumped a little at the reminder.

“Seriously, Fraya, just Darcy,” she told the maid.

Fraya nodded, though she looked uncertain. “Shall I organise the bath for you?”

Darcy had to keep herself from groaning at the thought. She was so ready to just sink into a hot bath, and relax. “Urgh, that sounds amazing. Thank you, Fraya.”

The maid nodded, before hurrying off, and disappearing into the bathroom. Darcy heard the sound of running water, and became very excited at the realisation that dwarves had indoor plumbing.

After waiting for about five minutes, Fraya came back into the room, and quickly ushered Darcy towards the bath. Darcy was a little embarrassed to get naked in front Fraya, but the maid’s no-nonsense expression encouraged her to strip quickly. As she was yanking down her jeans, her phone slipped out of her pocket, and clattered onto the marble floor.

“Oh my God,” she said, and Fraya turned to her.

“What is it, my lady?”

She had totally forgotten about her phone. She reached for the Stark Phone, and eagerly switched it on, praying that she could get a signal, as stupid as that thought sounded. There were no bars, and no little 3G signal, which was pretty unsurprising.

“What is that?” whispered Fraya fearfully, as she stared at the phone. “Is that some sort of witchcraft?”

Darcy scoffed. “Don’t be silly, Fraya, it’s a phone.” Fraya’s expression didn’t change. “In my world, it’s used for communication. Not that it’s any use now.”

Tony had tracking devices installed in all of his tech, but Darcy wasn’t confident that it would still be working when there was no signal. 

“Useless,” she sighed, and shoved the phone back into the pocket. It would be nice to look back at photos of her friends from normal Earth, though. For as long as the battery lasted, that is. While Tony had created phones that were a little more durable than the regular iPhone, it would still run out of battery eventually.

“Alright, let’s get this party started.”

*

Darcy stayed in the bath until she began to resemble a prune, and then for a little longer. It was so nice to just chill out for a bit, without having to worry about any of the shit she had to deal with now that she was in Middle Earth.

“Lady Darcy, I am beginning to fear that you have drowned in there,” called Fraya through the door, amusement clear in her voice. Darcy sighed, and then began to heave herself out of the water, which was no small effort when she felt like falling asleep then and there.

“I’m okay, Fraya, I’m coming out now.”

Darcy quickly redressed, feeling a little squicky when she was forced to put the same underwear back on. She made a mental note to ask somebody about getting a few more pairs of those.

“Urgh, I’m just gonna collapse right here.”

Fraya laughed. “But the bed would be so much more comfortable, my lady.”

Darcy had to agree. A dark red duvet, embroidered with, you guessed it, gold, was laid upon a very soft-looking mattress, and she immediately wanted to sink into the bed, and have a nap.

But then again, she had dinner with Fíli in a few hours… 

Meh.

Someone would wake her up.

When she got into the bed, she just fell to jelly. The whole mattress was so, so comfortable, and she just felt like she was lying in a cotton cloud. She was asleep within minutes.

At one stage, she thought she heard a knock on the door, but she ignored it when she heard Fraya speaking softly, confident that the maid would take care of it. She rolled over, and went back to her dream (which involved her, Fíli, and a whole lot of sun tan oil).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, Darcy now has a little female friend in Erebor, which is going to be a huge help for her later on. Being surrounded by guys all the time would not be cool for her, especially in such a new place. She has new chambers, and next chapter we'll meet a few of the other characters that we know and love *cough* Thorin *cough*, and we'll see what's happening on the Avengers' end.
> 
> If you have any questions or suggestions, go for it :)


	4. Chapter 4

Thor landed on the roof of the Avengers’ tower late in the afternoon of Darcy’s disappearance. JARVIS immediately alerted the rest of the team, and Tony gave the order for everyone to gather in the communal living room.

By the time Thor himself managed to get to the living room, the Avengers were all settled on the couches surrounding the coffee table, sitting in anxious silence.

At first glance, they all looked relaxed, but if you looked closer, you would notice their tense shoulders, gritted teeth, and clenched fists. Compared to them, Thor’s annoyed expression seemed positively joyful.

“Do you have any news?” said Jane as soon as he entered, leaping up from the couch. “What did Heimdall say?”

Thor scowled. “Apparently, Heimdall fancied himself a matchmaker,” he said, hammer clenched in his fist. Everybody exchanged looks of confusion.

“What do you mean?” Steve asked with a frown, straightening himself up, and fiddling with his fingers, as if he wished he were holding his shield.

Thor huffed. “I mean that Heimdall noticed that the other piece of Darcy’s soul was not in this world, and decided to do something about it.”

Natasha was the first to understand. “Is that… that’s not possible,” she said, shaking her head. Thor merely raised his eyebrows.

“For two soulmates to be parted by the worlds they live in? It happens more often than you would think, Lady Natasha.” Jane rubbed her own mark, and Thor gave her a soft smile.

The rest of the team suddenly understood, and multiple startled exclamations erupted around the room.

“So, you’re saying that Heimdall sent Darcy to a different world, just so that she could meet her soulmate?” Clint confirmed, and Thor nodded. Clint whistled. “Damn. Why would he do that for her? And, actually, how did he know that it was really her soulmate? Does he have, like, a sixth sense for that or something?”

It was a valid question. As far as they knew, Darcy had never actually met Heimdall, so he didn’t have much of a reason to send Darcy to a different world. It was also a huge risk, just in case her soulmate wasn’t actually there – in which case, she would be stuck in a whole new place, unaware of whom to trust. 

“He says that it was a reward for her help in both New Mexico, and London,” Thor said, looking visibly disgruntled. “And Heimdall did not know for sure that this person was her soulmate.”

Well, that explained Thor’s anger about it. He was fiercely protective of the snarky intern, and Heimdall’s interference definitely would have rubbed him the wrong way.

“So, he sent her to a possibly dangerous place, to find someone who may or may not actually be her soulmate, with nothing to defend herself with?” said Tony, but while there were a few murmurs of agreement, Natasha scoffed.

“I’m surprised that you think so little of her, Stark,” she said to him. “Both Clint and I have been training her, as well as Steve, sometimes, and she always has her taser on her person. Darcy is a very capable girl. She is able to keep herself safe until we get to her.”

“That is the issue,” said Thor grimly. “Heimdall refuses to transport me to where she is – he says that she needs more time. To do what, though, I am unaware.”

“Did he at least tell you the name of where she is?” asked Bruce, rubbing at his lined forehead. “Maybe we could get to her ourselves, using Jane’s machine.” He turned to Jane, who leaned forward, already thinking of the possibilities. “You could possibly alter the coordinates on it, so that instead of taking someone to Asguard, it takes them to wherever Darcy is.”

Jane looked thoughtful, and Tony nodded. “That could work. We just need to get the coordinates. Thor?”

“Heimdall says that he sent Darcy to a place called Arda,” said Thor. Everyone remained clueless.

“Shouldn’t you know about Arda, Thor?” said Jane. “Wouldn’t you have at least learnt about it at some stage?”

Thor flushed. “I might have, many centuries ago, but I’m afraid that I can only recall the bare minimum at the moment.”

“Hold on, I know that name,” said Clint, trying to remember where he recognised it from. Everybody waited for him to elaborate. “Fuck, where do I know that name from?”

“Are you sure you’re not just imagining a connection?” said Bruce, looking sceptic.

Steve frowned, feeling as if it was on the tip of his tongue. “No, I recognise that name as well. Is it from a book? Or a movie?”

“I believe that it is sometimes known as Middle-Earth, if that assists you,” offered Thor.

All of them froze, before they erupted into chaos.

“What in the actual fuck?”

“That’s a fictional place!”

“How is that possible?”

“Shut up!” shouted Clint. “Okay, so, Darcy’s in Middle-fucking-Earth. Now, we just need to get her back to normal Earth. Right? Let’s just focus on that.”

“Well, actually, if Darcy’s met her soulmate, the question is, will she want to come back here?” Bruce said, a frown on his face. 

“Of course she will,” said Jane, though her expression was uncertain. She knew that she would never want to leave Thor behind somewhere, and she certainly wouldn’t expect it of Darcy, but Darcy belonged with her and the Avengers, in New York. Not in Middle Earth. “You know how much Darcy values her friends.”

“Whether she will choose to return with us or not, we will still try and find her, and give her that choice.” Thor’s tone brooked no argument, and the others agreed, some with reluctance.

“Alright, then. Let’s get to work.”

“Hold on, how are you all so calm about this?” said Tony. “This is Middle Earth. She could’ve been dropped in with the fucking orcs for all we know, and Jane’s machine could take months to start running!”

Natasha looked at him, gaze steady, though everybody else looked uncertain at Tony’s words. “We’ll just have to trust that she’s alright for the moment, Stark, and that her soulmate takes care of her.”

*

When Darcy woke up, the room was dark except for a few lit candles (which were a major fire hazard, thank you very much), the fire had gone out, and Fraya was nowhere to be seen. She didn’t know what time it was, but she felt pretty well rested, for once.

The lack of windows in the room was extremely disconcerting, and for somebody who loved sunlight, it wasn’t a pleasant feeling. It all felt too stifling, without natural light. Darcy swung her legs out of the bed, and stood up, joints cracking loudly as she stretched. Her jeans were uncomfortably bunched around her thighs, and there was a sharp ache coming from her stomach, where the button had been digging in.

She wandered into the bathroom, desperate to empty her bladder, and found something that resembled a toilet, though she wasn’t quite sure if it was able to flush, as there were no visible buttons or pulleys. Then again, she wasn’t actually wearing her glasses, so she wasn’t sure if she could be trusted with that observation. She couldn’t remember if she had taken them off before going to sleep. Maybe Fraya had taken them off for her?

What a babe.

She decided to leave the toilet for the moment, and then ask Fraya later on. After she washed her hands, she went and grabbed her glasses from where they were resting on the bedside table, and then wondered what she was meant to do.

There wasn’t really much that she could do.

She could visit Fíli, but she wasn’t sure that he would be awake. Plus, she kind of wanted some time on her own. This begged the question, was she allowed out by herself?

Oh, wow. That just sounded like she was being kept prisoner or something. Which she definitely wasn’t. Obviously.

Was she?

No. She had only known Fíli for, like, half a day, but she knew that he wouldn’t do that. He kind of had that noble, Steve Rogers thing going on, except totally not at Steve’s level.

From the little she had seen of the mountain yesterday, it seemed magnificent. Darcy would love to have a little look around, on her own. And so, with that thought in mind, she slipped out of her room, making sure to put on her thick jumper, because it was cold as fuck in this place. She also made sure to shove her taser in her pocket, because damn, she would not be without her weapon of choice in a place she didn’t know very well. 

She nearly screamed when, after quietly closing the door, she came face to face with a dwarf guard. Or, rather, face to neck, because he was a little shorter than her, being a dwarf and all. The guard frowned at her, a spear held tightly in one hand, and she raised a single finger to her lips in the universal gesture for silence. His frown deepened. Darcy gave him an awkward smile, before walking down the hallway, going back the way that Fíli had lead her on their way here.

She passed more guards, and gave them all smiles, which they either ignored, or returned with suspicious looks. Honestly, though they weren’t approachable at all, she was glad that they were all there, because the candlelight was casting creepy shadows all over the walls, and she kept on freaking herself out with thoughts of axe-murderers. At least in the Avengers Tower, she had JARVIS to ease her fears, but here, she was left with her own imagination, which was, admittedly, a little overactive. 

After a while, she began to think that she was getting a little lost, but the guards were all too intimidating to ask for directions, so she decided to keep on going up, even though the stairs were killing her a little.

The things she did for toned thighs, and some breathing room.

After a little while, Darcy noticed a tiny bit natural light shining into a corridor, and nearly jumped for joy. She really missed the sun, even though it hadn’t been long.

She had always been the type of person to go out and sit in Central Park for hours, listening to music and basking in the sunlight, and most days, various Avengers would find her on one of tower’s many balconies, sunning herself on a deck-chair. She was just one of those summer girls.

She made her way over to a large set of wide open doors, which were had a guard on each side. She gave them both a nervous smile, which was returned politely, and then walked outside, trying to act like she was allowed to be there. The breeze was cold, and her breath was coming out in white puffs, making her wish she had her thick winter coat with her. The doors led out to what looked like a large stone balcony, and Darcy saw the sky again. Her laugh was delighted, because the sun was only just beginning to rise, and the sky was lit up with yellows, oranges, and purples, in a gorgeous swirl of colour.

Darcy hadn’t been able to watch the sun rise in years, but she thought that maybe she should start again. There was something comforting in the fact that even though she was in a completely different world, the sky remained the same.

There was nobody else on the balcony, and so Darcy made her way over to the thick stone lining the edge, acting as a rail, though she decided to use it as a seat instead, dangling her legs over the side. When she looked down, she discovered that she was up far higher than she thought she was. In the distance, she could see water, and a forest, and if she looked straight below her, she could see the snow-capped mountain ledges. If she fell from the edge, she would almost definitely die, either skewered by one of the tips, or completely flattened by the force of crashing onto a rocky ledge.

Lovely thoughts to keep her company while the sun rose.

“So, you’re the girl,” somebody says as they plopped gracefully down beside her, giving her the fright of her short life. She was fairly certain that her shriek had scared away nearby birds. Hand clutched to her heart, she turned, surprised, to see a dwarf with ginger hair styled in the shape of a star, an assessing look on his angular face. She had never seen him before. A steady hand was placed on her taser, ready to fire at any second, because fucking hell were people not allowed privacy around here?

“Jesus Christ, what is your problem?” she said, annoyed that she was taken by surprise again. The dwarf’s braided eyebrows rose.

“I have no problem, love, I’m simply curious about the new woman seen wandering Erebor, arm in arm with Fíli, son of Dís. I thought that I’d come and say hello.”

Darcy rolled her eyes, the frigid air burning her lungs as she tried to get her breathing back under control. “I don’t see how that’s any of your business, love,” she said, though she knew that she wasn’t even close to hitting his level of mocking.

“Most things are my business in this mountain, you’ll come to find,” he replied. Darcy focused her eyes on the lightening horizon, feeling irritated now that she’d gotten over her fright. “So, where are you from? Your accent is odd, I’ve never heard it before.”

“Not from around here,” she said, trying to give him as little information about herself as possible. The dwarf then dared to laugh at her, and her hand tightened into a fist. “Who even are you, anyway?”

The dwarf inclined his head mockingly, and said, “Nori, at your service.” Darcy figured that she had none of his service whatsoever, and ignored his words. She wondered why the name of one of his parents wasn’t given.

“And who’re you in the grand scheme of things?” she wondered, and Nori grinned.

“Ah, so you can ask the right questions,” he said, looking mildly satisfied. “Many have called me the eyes of the mountain.” He allowed her a few moments to put together the pieces, and she realised that he meant that he was a spy.

Like Natasha and Clint. But unlike with them, she had no clue who it was that he worked for. She studied him through the corner of her eye, and noted his sturdy, unremarkable clothing, as well as his slim, calloused fingers. He was obviously very good at his job, and she had no doubts that he had numerous weapons on his person. She could already see the faint outline of what looked like a knife hidden in a pocket. Nori then caught her eye, and winked, making her realise that he had positioned the knife on purpose. She didn’t know if it was meant as a warning, or as a reassurance.

“How do you know Fíli?” asked Darcy, hoping to gather more information about this mysterious dwarf, though she was fairly certain that anything she learned was going to be information purposely given. Spies always kept control of any situation.

“We reclaimed Erebor together, of course,” said Nori, as if it should’ve been obvious, and she hoped that she didn’t look as confused as she felt. “Fíli and I travelled for months with each other.”

‘Reclaimed Erebor’? What was Erebor reclaimed from? And why was Fíli apart of it, if he was a noble? She filed away these questions to ask later on, beginning to get a little more curious about her new lodgings.

“I see,” she said, trying to seem confident, but she must have failed because Nori snorted, a bit derisive, though overall amused.

“You’re gonna have to try a little harder than that if you want to play the game, love.”

Darcy wondered how much trouble she would be in if she hit him with her taser. She more than understood the message he was trying to tell her, that he was extremely suspicious of her, but she was the same with him, really.

“What’s the game?” said Darcy, hoping that she wasn’t looking overly ignorant when she said that.

“Have you never lived in a palace before, my lady?”

“Of course not, why would I have lived in a palace? Do I look like a fucking princess to you?”

Nori’s brow crinkled in obvious confusion, before he smoothed his face over once more. “Tell me, love, why is it that I can only find the bare minimum of information about Fíli’s newfound soulmate? You’d think that information as exciting as that would be spread around for the whole mountain to hear, which makes me wonder: why hasn’t it been?”

Darcy shrugged nonchalantly. She felt nervous, but at the same time, didn’t feel any fear of him, confident that he wouldn’t do anything to purposely hurt her. “You tell me.”

“Perhaps it is because of your manner of dress, or the odd way you speak,” he mused, and she crossed her arms over her jumper. “Or maybe, it’s because people are still trying to figure out where you came from, and don’t have any excuses ready for curious bystanders, or the dwarf lords on the council.”

Why would a dwarf council have any interest in her? Okay, so Fíli was high up in the ranks, but was it anyone’s business who his soulmate was? Apart from immediate family, of course.

Nori slid off of the balcony railing, and turned to head back inside. “Allow me to escort you back to your rooms, my lady. It‘s dangerous wandering around the castle unaccompanied.” It was more of a command than a request, but she probably would’ve accepted the offer anyway. Mainly because she had no clue how to get back to her room, and she was beginning to shiver from the cold.

She followed him back inside, and they made their way back in silence. She hadn’t realised just how far she had wandered from her room, and was feeling pretty thankful that Nori was taking her back. She could only imagine how lost she would’ve gotten on her own. About twenty minutes later, an anxious looking Fraya met them at the door.

“Oh, thank goodness!” she said, heaving a sigh of relief as she practically manhandled Darcy back into the room. “I wasn’t sure where you were! I was about to call on the guards to find you! Oh – my lord Nori, good morning.” Fraya gave a small curtsy, looking a little distressed, but Nori simply waved her off.

“What’s the time? I couldn’t have been gone for that long,” said Darcy.

Fraya said, “It’s a bit past dawn, my lady.” 

Darcy figured that that was around six thirty, or seven, and made a face. She never woke up before eight, usually, which made her wonder about the time difference between Middle Earth and her own world. It had been about mid-morning on Earth before she got zapped here, and she guessed that it had been early afternoon-ish when she arrived. In all honesty, she couldn’t be bothered to do the math, but she figured that there was at least a five-hour time difference, give or take.

“I’ll be seeing you soon, Lady Darcy,” Nori said. “I enjoyed our chat.” He then started heading back down the hallway, whistling as he went, only peering back once to give her a small wink. Darcy poked her head out to watch him leave, but was soon hustled back into the room by Fraya.

“Where were you, anyway? It’s so easy to get lost in the mountain, I was worried,” Fraya said.

“I just went for a bit of a wander,” said Darcy evasively, not wanting to tell anyone about the balcony. She thought that it would be quite nice to have her own place to go to when she wanted to be alone. If she could ever find it again, that is. “Am I not allowed to?”

She watched Fraya carefully for her reaction, and the maid pursed her lips. “Of course you are, my lady, but I think it would be safer for you to take someone with you next time.”

Darcy gave a noncommittal nod, before her eyes zeroed in on the dress laid over her freshly made bed, and a high-pitched squeal escaped her lips as she basically sprinted to the bed. While she didn’t like being fitted for clothes, she loved trying them on. “Oh my God! Garli finished one of the dresses!”

“Yes, one of his assistants dropped it off, and said that it was just a simple design to tide you over until he finished the rest.”

Darcy stroked the fabric with a loving hand, enjoying the soft feel. Fraya watched her with some amusement.

“Shall I help you into it, my lady?” offered the maid, and Darcy eagerly agreed. Soon enough (she would never admit how long it took her to figure out how the ribbon fastenings on the back worked), she was standing in front of a mirror, twisting and turning so that she could see her skirts twirl around her legs. While the dress was simple (according to Fraya), it was absolutely gorgeous. The fabric was velvet, and felt heavenly against her skin. It was a beautiful dark blue, which complemented her eyes very nicely (according to Fraya), sleeves clinging tightly to her arms. A slit down the middle of the skirt revealed another layer of darker blue fabric beneath the outer skirt, and though the skirts were stupidly long, Darcy loved the way they swirled around when she walked. The neckline and sleeves were fringed with silver, and she kind of felt a little like a princess.

“Oh, Lady Darcy, you look so much better,” said Fraya, though she immediately began backtracking when she saw the look on Darcy’s face. “Uh, I mean, while you looked amazing in your other clothes, you look simply stunning in this.”

Darcy pointed at her own eyes with two fingers, and then pointed back to Fraya in an ‘I’m watching you’ kind of way. Fraya flushed.

Darcy then noticed that her Converse were peeking out from beneath the hem of her dress. Fraya noticed where her gaze had landed, and tried to stifle a small giggle.

“It’s alright, I’m sure that Master Garli will have thought of shoes,” she said, and while Darcy didn’t like the idea of giving up her Converse, they kind of ruined the whole graceful, fairy-princess look.

This is when Darcy’s stomach decided to rumble very loudly, because she had missed dinner, and she hadn’t had breakfast yet, and that usually didn’t happen.

Fraya laughed. “I shall go and fetch breakfast for you, Lady Darcy. I believe that Mister Bombur is very eager to cook for the prince’s One.”

“Oh, the prince found his soulmate too? That’s so nice,” said Darcy, though she wasn’t quite sure why Fraya was mentioning something to her about the prince’s soulmate.

Fraya gave her a funny look, as if she had just coughed up a hairball or something. “I’m not sure that I will ever be able to understand your words, Lady Darcy. You’ve an odd sense of humour, if you don’t mind me saying, miss.”

Darcy waved her off, though she was pretty sure that she had spoken clearly enough. “No worries, Fraya, you head off.”

Fraya soon left, but not without sending several more strange looks over her shoulder. Darcy sank down into one of her armchairs, and relished in the heat coming from the rekindled flames in the fireplace.

It was kind of nice, being in a place that didn’t have technology. She could actually sit and relax without feeling the overwhelming urge to check her Instagram feed, or text Jane. Maybe she could even start to meditate, like she’d been meaning to for forever.

Darcy began to drum her fingers on her thighs.

She was bored as fuck.

There wasn’t anything to do. She wasn’t made for doing nothing. In her own world, she worked part-time at a coffee shop nearby the Avengers Tower, while also finishing off her Political Science degree. The rest of her time was spent helping Jane collate data (and occasionally shoving a sandwich down her throat), and chilling out with the various other Avengers, often using some of them to help out with her homework. Natasha was usually pretty well informed about most political situations, and was surprisingly helpful when it came to a few of her assignments.

A knock sounded from her door, and she dashed over to answer it, excited to see who it could be. She opened it wide, and was pleasantly surprised to see Kíli standing in the doorway, a large grin on his face.

“Good morning, Darcy! How’re you? Can’t stay for long, but I just wanted to ask if you wanted to come out and practice some archery with my One and I tomorrow. Fíli’s told me that you’ve been learning, and I thought it would be nice for you to meet Tauriel – she’s very excited,” he said to her, so quickly that she barely understood what he said.

“Um,” said Darcy quite eloquently, blinking.

“Excellent!” said Kíli. “We can find you a good, strong dwarven bow – or perhaps Tauriel has an elven one you could use. Sorry, lass, but you don’t look like you have the muscles to operate a bow like mine. We could make a picnic out of it! You can invite Fee too, he can just watch us in awe of our raw talent.”

With that, Kíli practically ran away, obviously eager to get somewhere if his wide smile and the slight skip in his step was anything to go by.

“Was that my brother I just heard?” wondered Fíli, head popping around his own door frame so that he could peer down the hall, looking surprisingly dishevelled. He kind of seemed like the person who was always perfectly put together (like Coulson, or Natasha), so seeing him with his hair messy, looking sleepy and sweet, was both odd and endearing. Very Labrador-like, if she was being honest.

“Yep,” said Darcy, running a self-conscious hand through her messy curls as she realised that not only were her teeth not brushed, but she hadn’t even washed her face, or done anything from her usual morning routine.

“What did he want?” Fíli asked, stepping out into the corridor, revealing his loose fitting pants and tunic combination. She had to admit, her mouth went a little dry when she saw how the tunic unlaced at the neck to show off some impressive chest/collarbone action.

She was a bit of a sucker for collarbones.

“Um,” she said, eyes not moving from that sliver of golden chest. Fíli laughed.

“Was it about archery? Because I told him about how you’ve some experience, and he was very excited, as was Tauriel. I believe he suggested something about going down to the range…” he prompted.

Darcy, with some effort, managed to look him in the eye, marvelling at how gorgeous that shade of blue was, and said, “Yeah, Kíli invited us both out for a picnic and some archery practice tomorrow.”

“Excellent,” said Fíli, a faint smirk playing on his lips. “I look forward to it. If you’ll excuse me, I just need to wash up – I’m not quite fit for polite society at the moment.”

Darcy disagreed completely with that assessment, but still nodded, mumbling a goodbye, before disappearing back into her room. She immediately went into the bathroom, and began to search for a toothbrush, toothpaste, and a hairbrush.

No way was she going to get close to Fíli when she had morning breath – it was bad enough that she’d already spoken to Fraya and Nori. She just hoped that none of them noticed. In on of the cupboards, she found multiple different brushes and combs, all inlaid with what looked like sapphires. She set one aside for later, and then managed to find something that seemed like a really old-fashioned toothbrush. While she wasn’t so ecstatic about sticking that in her mouth, she didn’t really have much of a choice if she didn’t want anyone to keel over and die from one whiff of her breath.

Now where was the fucking toothpaste in this place?

Had toothpaste even been invented yet? Oh God, what if toothpaste didn’t even exist?

“Fucking hell, where is the fucking toothpa – Fuck yeah! Victory!”

A small jar filled with a cream that smelled lovely and minty was discovered hiding in the back of a drawer, and while she wasn’t completely sure that it actually was toothpaste, she used it anyway, because minty was better than stale. 

C’est la vie, and all that shit.

“Lady Darcy? I have your breakfast,” called out Fraya, and Darcy dashed out, so ready for food that it wasn’t even funny.

No, she didn’t stumble over her skirt as she walked. Of course not. She was graceful as swan.

Were swans graceful?

“Mister Bombur was very excited,” said the maid, leading Darcy to a seat, before setting a plate almost overflowing with food in front of her. “He’s made you a large variety, as he didn’t know what you like and dislike. He hopes that it’s to your satisfaction, and invites you to come down for a visit if you would like.”

A visit to the kitchens? Fuck yeah, count her in.

“Ugh, I will definitely be taking him up on that offer,” said Darcy with a grin, because food could always be counted on to make her feel good.

“That’s good to hear, ‘cause Bombur’s looking forward to meeting you,” said Fíli, leaning against the doorway. He had changed into something a little less rumpled, golden waves brushed and braided. At her startled look, he knocked on the wall with a cheeky smile. “May I join you, my lady?”

“Get in here, you dork,” said Darcy, and though he almost definitely didn’t know what a dork was, he made sure to give her an offended look as he sat down opposite her, pinching a piece of toast from her plate. “Hey! Get your own food!” she said, swatting at his hand, only half-joking. Fíli’s hand was snatched away quickly as he shoved the toast into his mouth, looking a little like a chipmunk.

“No idea what you’re on about, Darcy,” he said through his mouthful, looking innocent.

“Yeah, yeah,” she said, carefully cutting her remaining slice of toast into little pieces. They were both quiet for a little bit while she ate, with Fíli still stealing bites from her plate, which would usually piss her off, except that Fíli’s little smile was too endearing to be annoyed with.

A part of her mind suggested that this was getting just a little too domestic a little too quickly, but she squashed it down. She kinda liked the companionable silence, which was all too rare in the chaos that was her life.

“Did you sleep well?” asked Fíli, leaning back in his seat. He sat oddly straight, as if lessons on posture had been drilled into him from an early age. Even then, when he seemed relaxed, he didn’t slouch at all, unlike Darcy, who had her elbow resting on the table to prop herself up. His posture reminded her a little of Tony, who always tried to slouch and stumble and rebel against childhood lessons, but never truly succeeded in removing the aura of posh privilege from his person.

“Like a log,” she replied, because in all honesty, that was one of the best sleeps she had had in ages. “Did you have a good night?”

“It was alright, thank you, though I have to say that I was a bit disappointed about our dinner plans.”

Darcy froze, eyes wide.

Fuck.

She knew she had been forgetting something! Why hadn’t Fraya woken her up?

“Oh my God, I am so sorry! I fell asleep, and I completely forgot!”

“I suppose you’ll just have to make it up to me then,” sighed Fíli, as if it were such a huge chore, though his smile was easy and forgiving.

Darcy felt guilty, though she knew that he wasn’t truly bothered by it. “How on earth will I ever be able to earn your forgiveness, my lord?” she said teasingly.

He stuck his nose up into the air, and said with an air of exaggerated haughtiness, “I am unsure at the moment, I shall have to get back to you. But rest assured, it will be remarkable.”

“I’m looking forward to it,” said Darcy, because she had a feeling that Fíli was a bit of a romantic at heart, no matter how cocky he looked.

“I see that one of your dresses was delivered,” he noted, and she grinned, before standing up and giving him a little twirl, extremely happy with her new outfit (barring the shoes).

“Do you like it?” she asked, swishing the skirt around her ankles. He laughed, and nodded.

“It looks beautiful on you,” he said sincerely. “As everything seems to.”

No, she was not blushing. Fucking charming dwarves and their stupid lines.

“I bet you use that line on all the ladies.”

His eyes then fixated on her feet, and he began to look like he was fighting back a smirk. “Lovely shoes, Darcy,” he murmured, lips twitching. His moustache braids swung a little, which made her wonder what his moustache would look like without them.

“Hey, Fíli? Fuck off,” replied Darcy.

“Oh, how you wound me, my love. Your words are akin to a sword in my back, or an arrow in my heart – ”

She rolled her eyes, though she did enjoy the way he said ‘my love’. “Oh, shut up,” she said playfully, plopping back down in her seat so that she could finish her breakfast.

“I heard that you took a walk around the mountain earlier,” said Fíli, feigning disinterest.

She glanced up at him. He seemed calm, though his forehead was slightly crinkled, as if worried about something. She hoped that it wasn’t her he was worried about – she could take care of herself.

“How did you know that? That happened, like, five minutes ago,” said Darcy.

He shrugged. “As soon as you left your room, the guard near your door alerted me.”

She tried not to feel uncomfortable with that, but found that it was a bit of losing battle. For someone who was very used to her independence, it was frustrating for shit like this to happen. “Why did he alert you? Am I not allowed to leave this room, then?” she said, attempting to control her defensiveness.

Fíli’s expression tightened, and a hint of offense sparked in his eyes. “Of course you’re allowed to leave. He was instructed to simply keep an eye on you if you went somewhere alone, and make sure you’re okay. You’ve barely been her a day, Darcy, and the mountain’s huge. I’ve known dwarves who have gotten lost for weeks down in the mines, and a lot of the mountain just isn’t secure yet. In some places, one misstep will send you through the floor. Forgive me for worrying about your wellbeing.”

Darcy’s glare relaxed, though her expression was still suspicious. She never took well to things that she considered to be overbearing, though she did realise that what he was saying generally sounded reasonable.

He sighed, but kept his voice calm and sensible as he said, “It’s easy to lose oneself in Erebor, Darcy. It would greatly ease my mind if you took an escort with you next time you decide to wander around. Honestly, just ask me, or Fraya, or even Kíli, and we will come along. It’s for you safety.”

Though her jaw was clenched, she still gave a small nod. Fíli relaxed back into his seat, one hand scrubbing at his face. She decided not the mention her crossed fingers.

“So, what’re our plans for today?” said Darcy, eager to move on.

He wrinkled his nose, and gave her an apologetic look. “My uncle seems to have caught a cold, and is sending me to attend a few council meetings in his place – My apologies, Darcy, but I’m afraid we’ll have to postpone any plans together until tomorrow.”

She felt a little disappointed at that, because she really wanted to get to know her soulmate better, but shoved it down. He couldn’t put his life on hold just because she had shown up. Ignoring the fact that she had just changed worlds for him. Then again, that hadn’t really been her choice. “That’s fine, Fíli, I can take care of myself. I might get Fraya to take me outside or something, I don’t know.”

“An excellent idea,” he said, though he still seemed a little annoyed. “And now, I must bid you farewell, as the council waits for no one.” He heaved himself up, reluctant to leave, and began to walk towards the door, before changing his mind, and coming back to brush his lips against her cheek.

His beard tickled, and she was almost certain that her grin was stupidly happy, because when Fraya came into the room after Fíli left, she said, “Are you alright, my lady? You look ready to faint.”

*

Darcy spent most of her morning lazing around as Fraya tidied up around her. She felt kind of guilty that the poor maid had to clean up after her, but at the same time, enjoyed the fact that she didn’t have to do it herself.

Fraya left at around midday to do a bit of laundry, with the promise that she would return soon with lunch.

Darcy could honestly say that she was very much looking forward to tasting more of Bombur’s food.

She wasted a bit of time flipping through a book that she found (not written in any language she knew of), and studying the pictures. There were detailed sketches of dwarves done up in armour, holding weapons high in the air, as well as multiple drawings of various jewels. She didn’t realise how much time had passed, and so when the door swung open suddenly, she leapt up from her seat, taser in hand, almost tripping over those fucking long skirts that the tailor insisted on. Her thumb hovered over the trigger, ready to press at any sign of danger.

Standing in the doorway was another dwarf, with an amazing mane of dark hair (though a few streaks of silver were interspersed throughout), and a straight nose, eyes coloured a piercing blue. He stood with a regal grace, head held high.

“Oh my God, I totally thought that you were an assassin or something,” said Darcy, a hand pressed to her chest in attempt to calm her pounding heart. “Jesus, man, don’t do that! I could’ve electrocuted you! Don’t you know how to knock?” 

Jane had always said that Darcy was a little too quick to fire when startled. Darcy had begun to agree after Clint put his hands over her eyes to play ‘Guess Who’, and then immediately fell to the floor, limbs twitching because of the electrical current running through him. While Darcy thought that he should’ve been prepared for it, seeing as he was a spy, he and Jane disagreed.

The dwarf standing in the doorway raised an eyebrow, managing to look both disdainful and vaguely confused. “My apologies, my lady, I did not mean to scare you,” he said, voice deep and husky. His stare shifted from her eyes to the taser held steady in her right hand, and his face turned curious and suspicious. She lowered it sheepishly, and forced a smile onto her face.

“No worries, man, it happens,” said Darcy, noting that this guy had a strange resemblance to Dís. “So, um, I’m Darcy Lewis. Nice to meet you.” She held a hand out to him, and he glanced it for a few seconds, as if unused to the gesture, before gingerly shaking it, hand warm and firm.

“I am Thorin, son of Thrain.” 

Oh. Ooooh. The ex-boyfriend. Huh. Fíli must’ve had a thing for older guys, because while Fíli looked about twenty, Thorin was obviously in his late forties. Not that she really blamed Fíli for tappin’ that, ‘cause Thorin was pretty good-looking in that brooding, roguish kind of way. It was very Wolverine, though a little less intimidating, because Wolverine could, you know, grow metal claws out of his knuckles. Plus, Logan’s voice was a little more growly and rough than Thorin’s.

Darcy’s face must’ve looked very blank as she gazed at him, because Thorin then said, with a vague air of impatience, “I am Fíli’s uncle.”

Darcy’s eyebrows rose so far up her forehead that she half expected them to take up residence in her scalp.

…Alright, so… Thorin was not an ex-boyfriend, then. Fíli really needed to start telling her when family members would be stopping by, because this was, like, the tenth time that she had been caught without the baked goods needed to win them over.

Darcy schooled her features, and got ready to lie through her teeth, because goddamnit, at least one of Fíli’s family members was going to like her.

She wasn’t too bad at bullshitting, so she was fairly certain that she would be fine.

“Oh! Of course! Fíli’s told me a bit about you, it’s so lovely to meet you!”

Oh, she wished that Fíli had told her a bit about him. Maybe this was a hint – she and Fíli needed to speak a whole lot more. They hadn’t gotten onto the topic of family yet, unfortunately for her.

Thorin inclined his head. “And you, Lady Darcy.” There were a few moments of awkward silence as he assessed her, and she shifted with discomfort.

Why was it that Fíli was always gone whenever his relatives popped by?

Before she got the chance to break the silence, Thorin said, with a nod to her taser, “What is that?”

“This?” Darcy glanced down. “This is my taser.” His brow furrowed with confusion as he studied the taser, though he didn’t seem like the type of person to ask for further explanation, so she took pity on him. “It, like, releases electricity into somebody’s body when I press this button here, which usually incapacitates them. This is Stark-improved, so this could definitely knock someone out, no worries.”

Thorin seemed to understand some of what she was attempting to explain, but still looked confused. Darcy then remembered what Thor had called it at some stage, which she figured would help things along.

“It’s like portable lightning.”

Thorin’s expression turned from confusion to shock, before coming closer to study her taser with interest.

“This small device releases lightning, which can easily disable somebody when that button is pressed?” he said, icy eyes lit with curiosity. Darcy nodded. “What is this, witchcraft?”

She laughed. “Nope. Just technology.” Though she was certain that he had no clue what technology was, he still nodded.

“Is this your only weapon?” he asked her, shifting his weight to his other foot, and she flushed as she realised that she had yet to actually invite him inside.

“Oh my God, I’m so sorry, I’m being rude, please come in, take a seat.” She ushered him inside, and directed him towards one of the armchairs opposite the fire, feeling a little like her mother. “Erm, I’d offer you something to eat or drink, but I’m not actually sure where to get that from.” Thorin raised an eyebrow at her, but still sat, and waved off her apologies.

“If ever you are in need of anything, simply pull on that rope over there,” he nodded to a thick, golden rope which hung in the corner of the room, by the door to her bathroom, “and it will bring a maid to the room. You may ask for anything that you believe will make you more comfortable.”

Alright, could she ask for Jane? Or Clint? Or Thor? Or any of her friends from Earth? They would make her more comfortable. Yes, Fíli was her soulmate, and that was all fine and dandy, but he couldn’t act as a replacement for all of the friends that she had left behind when she had been transported to this stupid place, and she really disliked the thought that, maybe, eventually, he would have to.

She swallowed down the ache in her throat, caught unawares by her sudden need to simply lie down, and have a good cry.

Though everyone here was nice enough, she couldn’t help but yearn for her nights hanging out with Jane, drinking cheap wine, and pointing out various constellations. She thought of Tony, and his snarky comments that were so similar to her own, along with his surprising offer to upgrade her taser. She wanted to go shopping with Steve again, and introduce him to a nice pair of skinny jeans, along with the Starbucks Frappuccino, because you couldn’t live in New York without trying one.

Fuck, she would totally kill for a Grande Vanilla Bean Frappuccino right now.

Instead of totally breaking down, which would have been embarrassing as fuck, she nodded, and said, “Thanks. Now that I know that, would you like anything to eat or drink?”

Thorin politely declined, and leaned back in the armchair, making it clear that he would be staying for a while. Darcy followed his lead, and sank into the chair opposite his.

The feeling was comparable to sitting on a cloud, in her opinion. The chair was so overstuffed that she just sank into it, and she let out a sigh.

“Can you fight with any other weapons?” said Thorin again, after she had settled herself down. 

“Hmm? Oh, yes, I can.”

Clint, Natasha, and, surprisingly, Steve, had taken turns teaching her how to fight after she had moved into the tower, and proved how much of a liability she was. Thor, Erik Selvig, and Jane Foster cared about her, which meant that Darcy could be taken advantage of by anybody after any of them. While everyone had agreed that she was pretty handy with just her taser, they thought that she needed to know much more if she was going to defend herself properly.

“My friends taught me some hand-to-hand combat, which, to be honest, I’m not too amazing at. I’m okay with a bow and arrow.” Meaning that she could hit the centre of the target a good fifty percent of the time. “Clint also got me started on throwing knives before – um, before this.”

Darcy had to blink furiously to stop herself from sobbing, because fuck, she wanted her friends back. And it had only been a day. Was that pathetic?

Thorin averted his gaze politely, and nodded. “I have never heard an accent like yours, before. Where are you from?” he asked her, and she gave him a sad smile.

“Somewhere far from here,” she said. His gaze was steady, and she realised that he was very aware that she wasn’t from Middle Earth, and that he was just fishing for information.

She really wished that people would stop doing that.

“How did you arrive?”

Darcy snorted, and fidgeted with the blue sleeve of her dress. “Fuck if I know, man.”

If she had known that attempting to fix Jane’s stupid machine would cause this, she wouldn’t have touched it with a ten-foot pole. Though, Fíli was a bit of a silver lining.

(“Are you sure that it’s not on? ‘Cause if I get, like, electrocuted or something whilst fixing this piece of shit, I’m going to be totally pissed off.”

“Yes, Darcy, it’s off,” said Jane tiredly, running a hand through her limp hair. “There’s literally no chance of anything happening to you. Especially with only me behind the controls.”)

Thorin scowled at her. “I am no ‘man’, my lady, I am a dwarf, and you shall refer to me as such.”

Darcy held up her hands in surrender, saying, “Sorry, dude. Won’t happen again.”

There were a few moments of silence as both of them stared into the fire, unsure of what to say to each other, since the only thing they had in common was Fíli.

“Dís wishes to organise a celebration,” Thorin finally said, and Darcy glanced up at him. She knew that there was something that she had forgotten to ask Fíli about.

“For what?”

He looked at her as if she was completely stupid, before saying, “To celebrate Fíli finally meeting his One. It’s an important event for us dwarves. Even more important with Fíli being who he is.”

Darcy nodded along, though she had no clue who Fíli was meant to be. She supposed it had something to do with him being high up in the food chain.

“Many nobles will be attending. Dís is planning on inviting the Mirkwood elves, and the men of Dale.”

Darcy’s smile froze on her face. “Erm, nobles?”

Jesus Christ. She wasn’t cut out for that kind of shit. It was bad enough attending the balls that Tony would sometimes throw, and having to chat with all of the beautiful people, but actual nobles? It was like meeting the royal family, for fuck’s sake.

And God knows she wouldn’t be trusted in the same room as the Queen, no matter her soulmate.

“Of course,” he confirmed. She cringed.

“Can’t we have, like, a small gathering?” she said hopefully, and a hint of a smirk appeared on his thin lips. Well, there was her answer.

“I’m afraid not,” he said, seeming unsympathetic. “Dís has deemed it necessary.”

Darcy sighed. “Fuckin’ joy.”

“I do hope that you’ll watch your tongue in front of the nobles, Lady Darcy,” said Thorin mildly, though his eyes warned her not to overstep.

She watched him carefully, wondering if he was always this moody. “I’ll try, but no promises.”

A knock sounded at the door, and Darcy, marvelling at the amount of visitors she was getting today, called out, “Come in.” The door swung open to reveal a visibly annoyed Fíli, breathing heavily, as if he had run all the way up to her room. His expression turned to relief when he saw her standing there.

“Darcy! Thank Mahal, I found you before – ”

“Before what?” wondered Thorin, standing from his arm-chair. Darcy followed his example, brushing off her dress.

Fíli’s face darkened when he saw Thorin, mouth pressed into a tight line. “Uncle,” he forced out through gritted teeth, “what a pleasant surprise. I was under the impression that you were recovering from a cold.”

Thorin smile was innocent, and just that little bit shit eating. “I took it upon myself to meet with Lady Darcy, since you appear to have forgotten to introduce us.”

Fíli scowled, looking pissed as fuck. “My memory’s as good as ever, Uncle,” he said, voice smooth as honey. “I was simply waiting for a good time for us all to dine together, since Mother would like us all to meet for tea. I thought that you could be introduced to Darcy then, so that she would have a bit more warning.”

Thorin inclined his head, though he looked as far from sorry as possible. “Forgive me for my impatience, then. I was quite eager to meet your soulmate, and welcome her into the family.”

“Oh, so you did not wait until I was otherwise occupied so that you could interrogate her?” said Fíli, and Darcy frowned, unhappy at seeing her soulmate so riled up.

“I simply thought that Lady Darcy would like some company, since you were so busy dealing with the council while I was unwell.”

Fíli looked close to murdering his uncle.

“Alright, boys, calm down. Fíli, Thorin and I were chatting – no interrogations happened. In fact, he was just telling me about the ball that your mother’s planning,” she said quickly, moving over to stand beside the blond. He wrapped an arm around her waist, and rested a large hand on her hip. He radiated heat, and she resisted the urge to snuggle up really close. She was a little like a lizard, in that she always craved heat.

Thorin smirked at his nephew’s reaction. “I believe that now is the time to farewell you, my lady. My thanks for allowing me to enjoy your company for such a while, and I look forward to our next meeting.” He gave her a nod, and as he passed, clasped Fíli’s shoulder, before exiting.

Fíli scowled at his retreating back. “Bloody impatient dwarves, can’t wait for me to introduce you properly, no, they must take matters into their own hands…” he muttered.

Darcy’s smile was amused. “Aww, Fee, it doesn’t matter. I think your uncle likes me. Mostly.”

“He’d be a fool not to,” he grumbled. Darcy beamed at him.

What a charmer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry it's been so long, I'm a shitty updater, but worry not, this story will be finished. took me ages to get this down, and it's really fuckin long, so I hope you all enjoyed it :) We saw Nori and Thorin come into this chapter, so I hope you guys liked those two as well, because i was really looking forward to writing those parts. Tauriel will be coming in next chapter, and a bit of archery, so I'm pretty pumped. Also, we finally find out how Darcy got to Middle Earth, and it's really not as sinister as I was making it sound! 
> 
> thank you all for your kudos and comments and bookmarks! it all means so much to me :) 
> 
> and also, if any of you have anything that you'd really like to see in this story, just say so, and i'll see what I can do!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there's one thing in Khuzdul in this, so if you hover over the link, it will give the translation :)

Somehow, Darcy managed to find her way back to that gorgeous balcony the next morning. She had no clue what was happening with her internal clock, but if it made her wake up at the crack of dawn everyday, she couldn’t say that she was pleased (no matter how beautiful the sky looked as the sun rose).

 

In all honesty, she felt a little guilty about completely ignoring Fíli’s wishes in regards to her wandering around the mountain, but she also very much appreciated her independence, and didn’t really believe that anything would happen to her if she didn’t have him or Fraya with her for two seconds. She knew that he would be angry if he found out, though, so she decided to keep these little trips to herself.

 

The air was freezing outside, but she had her jumper over her dress, which made it a little more bearable (though it wasn’t quite the fashion statement she wanted to make). She couldn’t wait for Garli to finish the rest of her stuff, because she was really looking forward to the promised cloak – it was very Harry Potter.

 

“Back again?” said Nori as he slid down beside her, scaring her once again with his silent movements.

 

“God _damnit, Nori_! Would you fucking quit it with the ninja stuff?”

 

His shrug was non-apologetic, though he probably had no clue what a ninja even was, and he had a smug smile on his face. Dickhead. “Apologies, my lady, I thought you knew I was there.”

 

“Yeah, yeah. Prick.”

 

Nori’s huff of laughter was a little bit shocked. “What a mouth you have on you. You’ll be plenty of entertainment at council meetings.”

 

“Oh, please, my mouth is just fine.”

 

“Thorin seems to think otherwise,” he said, and she scowled.

 

Spies were a pain in the ass in any world. She didn’t bother asking how he knew about her conversation with Thorin, instead staring out at the slowly rising sun.

 

“I see that you’re looking more decent today.”

 

She snorted. “Not sure what it is you have against my jeans, but thanks.”

 

The silence between she and Nori was not uncomfortable, and though it stretched out for several minutes, she didn’t feel at all obligated to fill it with nervous chatter. She simply enjoyed the cool bite of the air in her lungs, and the sun’s rays on her face.

 

“Has all been to your liking so far?” he wondered, and she shrugged.

 

“Haven’t really done much,” she said. “I’ve only been here for, like, a day.”

 

“Aren’t you going for a picnic today, with Kíli and his elf?”

 

“Stop doing that,” said Darcy.

 

Nori’s expression was innocent. “Doing what?”

 

She wagged a finger in his face. “Stop making it so obvious that you know my every move.”

 

“You know that I know your every move, so why hide it?”

 

“Because it’s _polite_.”

 

He scoffed, and began to twirl a small dagger around in his fingers, movements quick and graceful. “I’ve always preferred honesty to manners,” he said, and she couldn’t help but agree.

 

“Honesty’s a rare trait in a spy,” said Darcy.

 

“Labels,” he sighed. She thought that she understood.

 

“Walk me back to my room? I don’t want Fee to know that I came out here.”

 

“Already keeping secrets from your One, my lady?” A mild warning was in his eyes, because, of course, Fíli was his friend.

 

“Of course not,” she said, a little offended. “I’d just like to have some time to myself, and Fíli seems to think it’s dangerous for me to be out and about on my own.”

 

Nori snorted. “He’s not wrong,” he said, and Darcy scowled at him. He didn’t mention that she wasn’t actually on her own. Neither did she.

 

None of them seemed to believe that she could take care of herself. Well, they weren’t the ones who were kind of trained by assassins (and helped by a super soldier). She’d show them, somehow, that she didn’t need to be coddled.

 

“C’mon, let’s go, I’m freezing out here. Hey, actually, do you wanna take me to the kitchens? I’m meant to be meeting up with Kíli and his girlfriend later on for a picnic. I also want to meet Bombur, because he’s a super great cook, and I figure that we could probably bond over our shared love of food.”

 

“Do I look like a guide to you?” wondered Nori, looking vaguely disgruntled. Darcy shrugged. He sighed, as if it was a huge chore, before reluctantly agreeing, and within fifteen minutes, because Erebor was big as fuck, they found themselves in the warmth and chaos of Erebor’s kitchens.

 

The kitchens were huge. Like, fucking Grand Central Station huge. Three huge fireplaces were blazing, all occupied by racks of toasting bread, pots of bubbling soups, and many more delicious foods. The mouth-watering scent of pie reached her nostrils, as well as the savoury smell of cooking meat. She spied a huge spit being turned over a brazier, a pig skewered in the middle, skin slowly turning crispy and golden. Loads of dwarves hurried around with platters overflowing with food, and Nori was forced to yank her backwards so that she didn’t get toppled over by them.

 

“Come _on_ , breakfast begins in half an hour! Those platters need to be up on those tables within fifteen minutes, am I clear?” bellowed a stout dwarf, a piece of parchment in his hand. A smaller dwarf mocked him from behind his back, but was quickly shut up by a swat around the head.

 

She was reminded of Hell’s Kitchen, if she was being honest. She was expecting Gordon Ramsey to come out at any second.

 

“Oi!” called Nori, and the stout dwarf turned with a scowl. “Where’s Bombur?”

 

“Stirring the pot,” said the dwarf, as if it should be obvious, and he pointed over to one of the roaring fires, where a large, redheaded dwarf was using a gigantic wooden spoon to mix around whatever’s inside the ginormous cauldron. Darcy made a face when she realised that none of the dwarves were wearing anything to keep their hair out of the food. Considering that the dwarves all had so much of it, she believed she had reason to be concerned.

 

“Bombur! You’ve got a visitor!”

 

The huge dwarf turned at the sound of his name, and beamed when he caught sight of Darcy and Nori.

 

“Nori! Wasn’t expecting to see you down here!” he called out, face red and shiny from the heat of the fire. He kind of reminded her of a redheaded Santa Claus, if she was being honest.

 

“I brought someone to see you, Bombur,” said Nori, giving Darcy a small push so that she would move forward.

 

“Really? Who’s this then – Oh my! You’re not Fíli’s One, are you?” said Bombur, peering closely at her.

 

Darcy grinned. “Yeah, that’s me. You can call me Darcy, though.” She wondered if that was how she would forever be known – ‘Fíli’s One’.

 

His face lit up, obviously delighted, and began to yammer about how absolutely excited he was to meet her, and how they had all been waiting for Fíli to find his One for _ages_ , and how he hoped that she had been enjoying her meals, because he was the official chef to the royal family of Erebor, and would be in charge of her food for the most part (and if she had any allergies could she say so now, please and thank you).

 

“Sorry, but why would you be cooking for me if you’re the official chef to the royals?” said Darcy, confused. Nori gave her a sideways glance, looking bemused, and Bombur threw his head back and laughed.

 

“Ah, and a good sense of humour,” he said, before clapping her on the back. She stumbled forward from the force, and Nori thumped Bombur on the arm.

 

“Careful, you oaf, she’s not as strong as us.”

 

Darcy thought of arguing with that, but considering that almost every dwarf she had seen so far were just about made of muscle, she figured it was a bit of a lost cause.

 

Bombur was appropriately apologetic, and even offered baked goods as recompense. And, really, who was she to say no to that?

 

*

 

An hour later found Darcy, Bombur, and Nori crowded around a table, sampling all of the sweets that had just come from the oven. There were glazed pastries, cookies with melting chocolate chips, cakes stuffed with jam and cream, and plenty of spiced muffins to enjoy.

 

“Bombur, these are amazing,” said Darcy, breathing in the heavenly scents rising from the baked goods. Her fingers were sticky with jam and sugar from the doughnuts she had just eaten, and she began the delicious process of licking them clean.

 

Bombur managed to look extremely satisfied as he stuffed a muffin into his mouth, cheeks bulging.

 

“Hey, listen, I was wondering if you would be able to help me put together a picnic basket? Fíli, Kíli, and – oh, what’s Kíli’s girlfriend’s name?”

 

Bombur seemed confused at the word ‘girlfriend’.

 

“Tauriel, the she-elf,” said Nori, and the cook brightened up again, nodding in recognition.

 

“Right, yeah, well, we’re all going out to do some, like, archery and stuff, and I thought that a nice picnic basket would be great for the afternoon – y’know, if that’s okay.”

 

“What a lovely idea! Of course, of course, I’ll have something ready in an hour, if you want to send someone to pick it up,” he said, and Darcy grinned, thanking him profusely, before shoving half of a tart into her open gob.

 

She wondered what Fíli was doing. Considering that it wasn’t too late in the morning yet, probably sleeping. She briefly regretted not asking him to come along with her to the kitchens, but was soon distracted when Nori attempted to balance a muffin on the tip of his fairly large nose. The muffin stayed there for a moment, until Bombur let out a loud belch, which tipped the muffin off of his nose, and into his hands. The dwarves both burst into laughter, while Darcy grinned.

 

Dwarves were good at helping her to forget her discomfort in Erebor.

 

“Well, milady, I reckon it’s time for us to be going,” said Nori, though this was only after he had stuffed several pastries into his pockets while Bombur was busy eating. The chef thanked them for coming by, heaped praise onto Darcy about her being Fíli’s soulmate, and then promised that he’d have her basket ready within the hour. Darcy thanked him profusely, and snagged one last muffin for the road.

 

She was pretty sure that the kitchens would have a very frequent visitor from then on.

 

*

 

Darcy couldn’t find her jeans.

 

“My lady, what are you doing? You’ll ruin your dress, crawling on the floor like that!”

 

“I’m looking for my jeans,” said Darcy, swiping a hand under the bed to feel around for any fabric. The only thing she found was a dust bunny, which, ew.

 

“Your what?” said Fraya, confused. She hovered over the human as she crawled around, unsure what to do to help her charge.

 

“My jeans. Y’know, the pants I was wearing when I first came here?”

 

The maid wrinkled her nose. “Oh. Those.” Fraya’s tone was derisive. Darcy’s hackles rose a little, because those jeans had cost her about one hundred and fifty bucks, and made her ass look fucking awesome. They didn’t deserve to be criticised. “I believe that they were taken away for washing, my lady.”

 

Goddamnit. What was she meant to go out in now? She really didn’t want to wear a fucking full-length dress to a picnic. Just imagining how muddy the beautiful garment would get made her cringe.

 

“If you are searching for something to wear, I believe that a few more garments were dropped off here this morning.” Fraya gestured to a small pile of clothing that lay on top of the bed, and Darcy collapsed back onto the floor.

 

She had already looked through that pile, only to find more and more dresses.

 

She and Master Garli probably had to have a little chat about the amount of dresses that were necessary in a wardrobe.

 

“I’m gonna die,” groaned Darcy. Fraya rolled her eyes.

 

“Lady Darcy, I do not believe that your dramatics are necessary,” she sighed, before reluctantly saying, “Perhaps I might be able to find a pair of leggings in the laundry.”

 

Darcy’s head popped up, eyes as wide as a puppy’s. “You’d do that?” Fraya looked unenthusiastic about the idea, though she still nodded. Darcy grinned. “Thank you so much! You’re the best.”

 

Fifteen minutes later, Fraya returned holding a pair of brown pants, and a weird, shirty thing. In the time that she was gone, Darcy had collapsed herself on the plush carpeting, staring up at the gold-lined ceiling and praying that her jeans hadn’t actually been incinerated or something instead of laundered.

 

“Here, my lady,” said Fraya, towering over her and holding out the items. “A tunic, and leggings, as requested. The leggings may be short in the ankle, however there is little I can do about it on such short notice.” The look the maid gave her was far from pleasant, but Darcy just took it in her stride.

 

Fraya could get back to her when _she_ had gotten Fury’s patented Death Stare™, and lived to tell the tale. Fury really hated Darcy for some reason. But, honestly, how was she supposed to know that the eye-patch wasn’t part of a costume? There was really no need for threats.

 

(“Hey, cool costume, dude,” said Darcy.

 

Fury scowled, taking out a handgun from fuck-know’s-where, to point it at her face.

 

“Alright then, message received,” she said, hands up as she slowly backed away.)

 

“Thanks so much, Fraya,” said Darcy, a sweet smile on her face. Fraya glared, and dropped the clothes onto her stomach, before moving away to tidy the room, muttering about the indecency of ‘the prince’s One’ wearing ‘trousers, like a male!’ while shooting looks of longing at the lovely dresses which were laid out on the bed.

 

Darcy frowned. “Uh, Fraya? If the prince’s soulmate’s wearing pants too, what’s the issue with me doing it?”

 

Fraya merely sent her a look of annoyed bewilderment in return, as if she was convinced that Darcy had completely lost her mind.

 

C’mon, it wasn’t as if she was speaking fucking Chinese. There was really no need for the maid to look quite that confused.

 

Whatever. She’d ask Fíli about it later. Dwarves probably just had some really fucking weird customs.

 

*

 

“Darcy, you are looking quite, um…”

 

“Yeah, yeah, shut up. My jeans were in the wash, and I didn’t want to wear a dress for archery.”

 

Darcy didn’t know where Fraya got the tunic and pants from, but they were not even close to fitting properly. The tunic was _very_ tight around the bust area, since dwarves didn’t appear to have huge boobs, and beyond loose around the tummy. Never had she hated having big boobs more (and she had had to suffer through a _lot_ of teasing in high school). The pants ended around mid-calf, were tighter than completely comfortable around her ass, and were kind of loose around her hips. While she was grateful that she _had_ pants, she was fairly certain that one wrong move would tear them in half. Thankfully, she had also been given a thick, fur-lined winter coat to wear, which covered most of the outfit – however, the whole look still wasn’t particularly flattering.

 

“No, no, truly, it is, uh, charming,” said Fíli, obviously struggling to stifle a laugh. Darcy knocked her shoulder into his, not even making him flinch. In fact, she was the one who rebounded off him.

 

“Jesus Christ, are you just a column of muscle? You’re almost worse than Thor!”

 

Fíli smirked, and flexed his arm muscles, laughing when she scoffed at him.

 

“And who is this Thor, then?” he said with a grin, taking her hand as they walked. She began to try and keep track of where they were going, making a map of the general area in her head. There were so many twists and turns in this place that it was almost impossible to get a clear idea.

 

She supposed that Fíli might have been right when he said that the place was like a maze. Not that she was going to admit that to him.

 

“God of Thunder,” she said, in reply to his question.

 

He chuckled. She didn’t, though she was forced to fight a smile. The reactions she got to that sentence always tickled her. He gaped at her.

 

“You’re serious?”

 

“Would I lie to you?”

 

The comment was meant as a light-hearted one, but it was like she flipped a switch. Fíli stopped for a moment, face going cloudy, and looked at her, gaze steady. “Honestly? I do not know.”

 

Darcy totally understood where he was coming from, though she wondered why he decided that then would be the perfect time to bring it up. Soulmarkings were great when trying to find your soulmate, but when you finally met them, you were only working off of a sort of base attraction – like, ‘fate has told me that I’m meant to be with you, so let’s get to it.’ She and Fíli really only knew the smallest things about each other – and their understanding of each other was pretty limited as well. Being from different worlds tended to make it a little difficult to relate to each other.

 

Thor and Jane were an excellent example.

 

However, that totally came out of nowhere. She wondered how long Fíli had been dwelling on how little he actually knew of her, and vowed that she would fix things right up with her soulmate.

 

A hint of a smile played around Darcy’s lips. “I suppose we don’t really know each other too well at all.” She gave his hand a comforting squeeze. “It’s cool. You know, there’s this game in my world, and it’s called 20 Questions.”

 

“What’s that?” Fíli gently steered her around a corner, nodding genially to a few dwarves who were passing in the opposite direction. The dwarves gave her odd looks, raising eyebrows at her attire. She felt like sticking out her tongue, but ultimately decided that it’d be childish.

 

“So, basically, you ask a question, and I have to answer it, and vice versa. We take it in turns, it’s really good as a get-to-know-you game.”

 

“Sounds simple enough,” said Fíli, nodding. His features were relaxed, and he seemed calmer. She swung their clasped hands between them as they walked.

 

“Oh! Also, we need to drop by the kitchens, real quick,” said Darcy as she remembered Bombur’s promise to have food left out for her. “Bombur promised me that he’d leave some food out for our picnic.”

 

Fíli gave her a sideways glance. “When did you meet Bombur?”

 

Darcy tried not to look unbearably guilty. She hoped that she was succeeding. She had always been good with a poker face, and lying was her forte. The only people who could consistently catch her lies were the ones who were trained by S.H.I.E.L.D – as in Natasha and Clint (there was literally no way that she was going to get away with eating the last cookie on the platter with those two in the tower).

 

“This morning, actually,” said Darcy casually. Fíli squeezed her hand.

 

“Did he stuff you silly?” he asked, a knowing glint in his eye. She let out a breath, because that wasn’t the look of someone who was suspicious. That was a look of commiseration.

 

“Oh man, it was so good. His baking is _mint_. Legit, I could’ve died and gone to Heaven.”

 

She wondered how much of that sentence he understood. From his expression, she figured that it was very little. She also wondered if that would be enough of a distraction to get off the topic.

 

“Yes,” said Fíli, “Bombur’s baking is quite ‘mint’.”

 

Darcy couldn’t help but giggle. The word sounded so odd coming from his mouth in that context, and he chuckled alongside her.

 

“I believe that I’ll stick with my own language, for now,” he said, a small smile playing on his lips. She smiled, bumping her hip against his waist (because _fuck yeah_ , _she was that little bit taller than him_ ).

 

“Thanks for trying, though,” she said. “That was very sweet.”

 

She could see Fíli hiding a small grin out of the corner of her eye, and she squeezed his hand, enjoying the warmth radiating from him as she moved a little closer.

 

*

 

Bombur was ecstatic to see them together, to put it lightly.

 

“Oh, look at the pair of you! Mahal, I remember when Marin and I exchanged our first words – I do enjoy the glow that new couples hold. You’re all sweet as a berry tart.”

 

Darcy’s cheeks flushed with red, and Fíli grinned at the rotund chef. “Many thanks, Bombur,” he said, “I believe that Amad is organising a ball as celebration –”

 

“Another one?” exclaimed Bombur, and Fíli nodded, unfazed by the interruption. “It seems like mere days ago that we held the ball for Kíli and his elf! Bofur could barely leave his bed after that one, he was so drunk. Quite a party, it was,” he whispered to Darcy, mouth hidden behind one pudgy hand, and she smiled.

 

Fíli took advantage of Bombur’s distraction by reaching for one of the small mince pies lining the table beside them, but his hand was quickly slapped away by the cook.

 

“No touching! Your title means nothing down here, princeling,” Bombur teased, and Fíli pouted. One look at Bombur showed that Fíli’s pout did nothing to him. “Fíli, your eyes have not worked on me since the beginning of our quest.”

 

Ignoring the mention of a title in relation to Fíli, Darcy frowned. “What quest?” she asked. Bombur stared at her with disbelief, mouth dropping open.

 

“‘What quest?’, she asks! The quest to reclaim Erebor, of course! Where have you been, lass?”

 

Fíli’s eyes widened, and he glanced around, noting the amount of dwarves attempting to eavesdrop, and the amount who were staring at Darcy. “She’s not from this area, news of Erebor’s reclamation must not have reached the South yet.” Darcy cocked her head at him, unknowingly mimicking Bombur’s expression of confusion.

 

“But the Steward of Gondor has already sent us offers of trade – ”

 

“Mahal, is that the time? Many thanks for the meal, Bombur, but I believe Darcy and I should be off – Kíli will be impatiently waiting, you know how he is,” said Fíli quickly, before snagging the basket of goods in one hand, and tugging on the sleeve of Darcy’s tunic with the other.

 

“Alright then, lad, have a good day,” said Bombur, confused. “And please, Lady Darcy, feel free to visit whenever you would like to.”

 

Darcy wasn’t sure if her figure could afford that, but she nodded and grinned and thanked him all the same, because Mama Lewis didn’t raise no rude daughter. Fíli practically dragged her out of the room to avoid any more questions from Bombur, and it was only after they had gone up two flights of stairs that Fíli said anything.

 

“We need to give you a story.”

 

Darcy hoped that her silence communicated her confusion at this conversation starter.

 

“Just in case anybody asks questions about where you’re from, since you aren’t knowledgeable enough about Middle Earth to make something up by yourself.”

 

“Hey! I know some stuff!”

 

Fíli sighed, and looked to the heavens as if praying for help, though his mouth had an amused curve to it. “Fine, what do you know?”

 

“Bilbo Baggins. Gollum. Aragorn. Um, Smaug. Sauron. Ha, there. See, I do know stuff.”

 

He stared at her for a few moments. “If only any of that was actually helpful.”

 

She scowled at him, but was ignored.

 

“Alright, if anybody questions you, you originate from a small village near Rohan – how are you with horses?”

 

“Never ridden one in my life.”

 

“…Right, you’re from a small village near Gondor then, and you were travelling to see the new city of Dale and it’s famous marketplace, and you are unused to Ereborean customs, as your village was fairly secluded. That should explain anything odd that you say or do. If not, well. Are you any good at lying?”

 

Darcy snorted. “Of course I am. I live with the _Avengers_.”

 

Back on normal Earth, anyone who heard her say that would either look at her disbelievingly (as if _she_ would live with _The Avengers_ ), or nod knowingly (cause god _damn_ were they hard work). Fíli only cocked his head with bemusement.

 

“Who are the Avengers? And what are they avenging?”

 

It took Darcy from there to the gates of Erebor to explain the concept of superheroes, and why her fucked up Earth needed them, until he kind of understood. What he didn’t understand, however, was why they usually wore costumes and/or masks.

 

“Why do they put on simple costumes for battle? Why not proper armour?”

 

“Well, Thor wears some armour.”

 

“But what about the rest?”

 

“Man, don’t ask me. I just like the view of Cap’s butt.”

 

“I am a dwarf.”

 

“It’s a figure of speech, just go with it.”

 

“It’s silly, though, they have no protection,” said Fíli, and Darcy sighed.

 

“Tell you what – if you ever meet them, you can tell them how stupid they all are. How’s that?”

 

She ignored the pang that came with the ‘if’ – anyone else would’ve already met the Avengers, been interrogated by Natasha, threatened by Clint, and welcomed by the others (though Tony would begin to discuss a few bits of new weaponry he was working on, just to make sure that the point was gotten across).

 

Fíli nodded, though he eyed her carefully. She schooled her features into something that was marginally less wistful. Judging from the set of his mouth, a smidge tighter than before, she didn’t succeed.

 

“C’mon, let’s hurry up. Kíli and his girlfriend are probably waiting for us,” said Darcy, tugging him along at a faster pace than the meander from before. She very much wanted to get away from that topic of conversation.

 

“‘Girlfriend’? No, Tauriel is his One.”

 

“Yeah, I know. His girlfriend, pretty much.”

 

Fíli gave her a confused smile. “But they are not simply friends, Darcy,” he said, before getting momentarily distracted by one of the guards posted at the gate, who was giving him a short bow, as a sign of respect.

 

Fíli nodded back, while Darcy gave the dwarf a bit of an odd look. She hadn’t realised that she was meant to, like, curtsy or whatever for all of the nobility as well. She had thought that you were only meant to do that for the actual royalty. At least, that’s the impression she got from the Princess Diaries.

 

“Finally!” shouted Kíli from about a hundred metres ahead, jogging to meet them. “You two took your time! Get lost in Lady Darcy’s eyes, did you?”

 

“How’s that for gratitude?” called Fíli, a teasing smile on his face. “We were off fetching lunch, rascal!”

 

“I’m not sure that you deserve any though, with that attitude,” said Darcy, and Kíli’s look of exaggerated offense made her snort.

 

“However I do believe that the beautiful Lady Tauriel still deserves lunch, regardless of her lover’s actions,” said Fíli quite magnanimously. “Bombur’s meat pies should not go to waste, after all.”

 

“You scoundrel!” said Kíli, and Fíli must have seen something in his brother’s face that she couldn’t, because he quickly shoved the basket into Darcy’s arms, and got ready just in time to be tackled to the ground.

 

The fight didn’t last long. Within minutes, Fíli had Kíli pinned beneath him, and it made her smile to see that while Fíli had given as good as he got, he was still careful not to seriously hurt his brother. She had no such qualms when it came to fighting with her own family. All of the Lewis cousins were fairly practiced at dealing with the various injuries they managed to inflict on each other. Family reunions tended to get bloody, because sticking a bunch of cousins together with no supervision? Didn't generally end well. 

 

“You cannot help yourselves, can you?” said a voice from behind her, tone amused. Darcy spun around quickly, having been taken by surprise.

 

“My love!” called Kíli breathlessly, kicking his legs uselessly in an attempt to topple his brother over. “I was merely defending your honour!”

 

“Oh,” pouted Darcy. “You’re taller than me.” At this comment, both Fíli and Tauriel laughed.

 

That was a bit of an understatement. Tauriel towered over her by a good foot, if not more. Darcy kind of wondered how everything worked between her and Kíli, because while he was tall-ish for a dwarf, Tauriel was like a giant. A lovely, elegant giant.

 

“Tell me about it,” said Kíli, face filled with affection as he surveyed his beautiful soulmate. Fíli let him up, so that he could go and stand by Tauriel, the size difference becoming even more obvious.

 

“I was getting used to being taller than everyone,” said Darcy sadly. Fíli joined them all, wrapping an arm around her waist so that his fingers were splayed against her side.

 

She usually lived with some fairly large people (cough, Thor and Steve), and while it was fun getting them to give her piggy-back rides, it wasn’t so fun when she had to crane her neck to speak to them. She could foresee this being even more of an issue with Tauriel.

 

She hoped that Fíli was prepared to give her loads of neck massages.

 

“Darcy, may I introduce you to Lady Tauriel, Kíli’s lovely One,” said Fíli. “Tauriel, this is my beautiful Darcy.”

 

A deaf person could’ve heard the pride in his voice, and Darcy did her best to tamper down her beam.

 

“You are the world-traveller, then,” said Tauriel, smile warm, though her eyes were shrewd as they examined Darcy.

 

Darcy’s smile became significantly more awkward. “Is that what they’re calling me these days?”

 

“We have yet to be given the full story, actually,” said Kíli, giving Fíli a pointed glance.

 

“The Company will gather in a few days so that they may be introduced to Darcy. Then, and only then, will we discuss her arrival here.” The blond’s tone brooked no argument, and his brother gave a reluctant nod.

 

“Wait, who’re The Company again?” said Darcy. She knew that they had all been listed off to her the other day, but she couldn’t remember anything for the life of her.

 

“The Company of Thorin Oakenshield,” said Kíli proudly.

 

Her face remained blank, and he sighed, disappointed at her lack of reaction.

 

“I believe I have become far too accustomed to people falling over themselves when I mention that,” he said, and Tauriel rested a comforting hand on his shoulder, smirking.

 

“Perhaps Balin should be the one to tell the tale,” said Fíli, “since he is such an excellent story-teller.”

 

“But now I’m curious,” said Darcy. “Give me the overview?”

 

Kíli gave her an overview.

 

Darcy almost died. Dragons, gold sickess, orcs? What the fuck?

 

The casual mentions of goblins and dragons made it overwhelmingly clear that she was in a completely different world, if she hadn’t fully realised it before.

 

“What in the actual fuck.”

 

Tauriel’s eyes widened, before she threw her head back and laughed. “Lady Darcy, perhaps you should mind your tongue when in the company of those other than your intended.”

 

“Oh my God, I can’t even right now. I just – you know what? Let’s get our archery started, because my mind has actually been blown.”

 

The dwarves and the elf exchanged bemused glances, before Tauriel handed Darcy a bow.

 

“I used this bow when I was younger,” she said, “It will not be perfectly suited to your height, but it will be close enough.”

 

Darcy grinned, pushing away thoughts of the dwarves’ quest from her mind. It was hard. “Thanks, Tauriel, that’s really generous of you,” she said, but Tauriel waved her off, saying that it was her pleasure.

 

The bow was wooden, elegant and lethal. There were some scuff marks scattered along the wood, which was the colour of dark honey. It was so different from the bow that Clint usually got her to practice with that she was afraid that she would completely miss the target when given the opportunity to shoot.

 

“Fíli will judge first,” said Kíli, “because he is absolutely terrible at archery. You, Tauriel, and I will all verse each other. Fair warning, we’re quite good.”

 

Darcy was very much reminded of when Clint first took her to the shooting range.

 

(“Now, the key thing is that you’re not allowed to shoot yet. You won’t be anywhere as good as me at this stage, and it will only lead to disappointment.”

 

“Wait, shouldn’t I practice to get as good as you?”

 

“No, Darce, what I have is called natural talent.”)

 

“Right, well, I can admit that I am not great at archery, so please, feel free to show off.” She could tell that they would anyway. Fíli gave her an exasperated look.

 

“What Darcy means to say is that she is excellent at archery and will outshoot both of you.”

 

Darcy watched a glint of competitiveness enter both Kíli and Tauriel’s eyes. She spun to face Fíli, eyes wide.

 

“They’re gonna eat me alive.”

 

Fíli laughed. “Of course they won’t,” he said, rubbing her back, “you will eat _them_ alive.”

 

Well, at least he had faith in her.

 

*

 

He shouldn’t have had faith in her.

 

“Come on, Darcy, twelfth time’s the charm,” said Kíli, trying to hide his snickers. Both he and Tauriel had hit the centre of the targets ages ago. Tauriel, the show off, had even made a heart around hers, just because she could.

 

Darcy had honestly thought that she was better at archery than this. Damn, she should’ve practiced more with Clint.

 

“It’s alright, amrâlimê, you can do it. You almost grazed the target on your last shot,” said Fíli.

 

“Can we stop for food? I need energy to hit the target.”

 

Her confidence in herself had begun to wane after the seventh miss. By the tenth, she was about ready to stuff herself with some of Bombur’s pastries.

 

Screw her mum, comfort eating was good for the soul.

 

Tauriel laughed, but agreed. “I believe that a break may be in order. After all, hitting the target so many times was tiring.”

 

Darcy shot her a lethal stare, only making Tauriel laugh harder. She huffed, and moved back so that she could take Fíli’s hand.

 

“Where are we setting up the picnic, then?”

 

“Right here. Kee, set down the blankets, would you? Tauriel, would you be able to make a fire? The breeze has a bite to it.”

 

Soon enough, they had a merry little fire going, and a small stack of blankets to sit on. The two dwarves demolished their food fairly quickly, leaving Tauriel and Darcy staring.

 

“What?” said Kíli through a mouthful of food.

 

In all honesty, she hadn’t seen anyone eat that much since Steve and Clint went to a buffet together. No wonder Bombur had filled up the basket so much.

 

“Nothing at all. Please, continue.”

 

The dwarves exchanged glances, before shrugging, and continuing to stuff their faces. She and Tauriel ate slower, taking the time to appreciate the flavours in the sandwiches, and the spiced ale that Bombur had packed. He had also thrown in several small cakes for dessert, which Darcy was very much looking forward to.

 

Had she eaten too much junk food today? Yes.

 

Was she going to stop? No.

 

“Fee, I hear that Amad’s begun to plan your coming out ball,” said Kíli. The look on Fíli’s face made Darcy snicker, until he flicked her forehead gently. Her outraged expression made him grin, highlighting the laughter lines by his eyes.

 

Tauriel said, “Do you remember ours, my love? There was so much dancing.” Her tone was fond, and the way that Kíli looked back at her was so full of love that Darcy had to look away.

 

“How could I forget, [Luhkudel](light%20of%20all%20lights).”

 

“Fee, your Uncle told me that your mom would be inviting, like, nobles and stuff from other places. Please tell me he was just taking the piss.”

 

Fíli cocked his head. “I don’t believe that she was ‘taking the piss’. All of the nobles from neighbouring kingdoms were invited to Kíli’s ball, so I see no reason why they would not be invited to mine.”

 

“More will probably be invited to Fee’s, since he’s the most important one in the family.”

 

Fíli gave the snickering Kíli a shove, and Tauriel hid a smile behind her hand. Darcy was very confused. Was Fíli the ‘most important one’ because he was the eldest? Was it some sort of inside joke?

 

Whatever. It was probably just a brothers thing.

 

Darcy moved between Fíli’s spread legs, and collapsed against his strong chest with a lazy sigh.

 

“Man, are you wearing, like, armour or something under there? Your chest is rock hard.”

 

There was a beat of silence, before both Fíli and Kíli burst into laughter, the vibrations causing her to shake along with them.

 

“No, Darcy, I’m not wearing any armour,” said Fíli, struggling to stop his chuckles. Darcy could feel her face heating up.

 

“Alright, we never speak of this again, clear?”

 

Kíli replied with a howl of laughter, Tauriel shaking her head beside him. She gave Darcy a look of commiseration.

 

“Dwarves are quite well-built, Lady Darcy,” she said. “Your confusion is understandable.”

 

“You know what, Tauriel, I think it’s time for us to go back to archery. Maybe you could help me out a little?”

 

“It would be my pleasure.”

 

Tauriel unfolded herself from the blanket, before heaving Darcy up too. Her lithe frame must’ve hid some powerful muscles, because Darcy wasn’t exactly light.

 

“Come, let me adjust your posture a bit. While you are doing quite well, you seem to be faltering when letting the arrow loose. Here.”

 

Darcy was sure that she and Tauriel would become good friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for your patience! Sorry for such a late update, but I am not known as the best updater in the world. While I will always be adding small bits to the chapter, it will often take a while to really sit down and have a good write. Just another reminder, I won't abandon this story. At least, not until the Avengers finally manage to get to Darcy... :) Hope you enjoyed this!
> 
> Btw, if any of you want to bug me about my progress, my tumblr is: deanogcrman.tumblr.com - the main content is dean o'gorman, aidan turner, and much poetry :)
> 
> update 22/01/2018: so i've decided to turn this into a rly long one-shot, so yeah probs keep an eye out for that if ur interested, but it'll take a while :)

**Author's Note:**

> so, first darcy/fíli fic ever, wooo. Wrote this in like two hours and was then really anxious to post this because i'm v excited about it.
> 
> not too sure what's actually gonna happen with this story, so if you guys have anything you really want put in this story, go ahead and make suggestions :) i definitely know how i want this to end though.
> 
> no clue when i'm next gonna update, but i'll be working on this story pretty often.
> 
> thanks for reading :)


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